Fighters React To Controversial Manny Pacquiao-Mario Barrios Decision

Manny Pacquiao and Mario Barrios fought to a surprising, but fitting, majority draw on Saturday night at MGM Grand in Las Vegas. While I scored the fight 115-113 for Pacquiao, two official judges saw it as a 114-114 draw and the other gave it to Barrios by a round.

Former world champions and several notable fighters took to social media to give their take, and many of them felt Pacquiao was robbed.

Former world champion George Kambosos Jr. said he thought Pacquiao won but still gave the 46-year-old legend his props for the effort.

Reigning WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson said the decision “was crazy.”

Another former world champion, Shawn Porter, said, “Yeah, I knew the BS was comin’. I’m sick.”

Former champions Danny “Swift” Garcia and Stephen Fulton both said they felt Pacquiao won.

According to the broadcast team on-site (Brian Campbell, Abner Mares and Bernardo Osuna), Pacquiao appeared to control much of the early action with his hand speed and combinations. This could have swayed people on social media, but that doesn’t normally impact fighter’s opinions.

Despite Barrios coming on late, the consensus online leaned toward Pacquiao doing enough to win. The controversy sparked instant debate that will undoubtedly rage for weeks.

As noteworthy as the questions about the fairness of the decision may be, we should also be talking about Pacquiao’s effort. No matter the decision, he deserves tons of credit for putting together such a strong performance at 46, especially after having been out of the professional ring for four years. Through the first nine rounds, he was the quicker man, and at one point, I had him up 88-83. He did slow down in the final quarter of the fight, and it seems to have cost him a world title and one of the biggest upset victories in boxing history.

According to CompuBox stats, Pacquiao actually out-landed Barrios in power punches, but the latter had the advantage in total punches and jabs.

Pacquiao’s ability to push the pace in the early rounds was surprising, but Barrios also deserves some blame. Barrios showed Pacquiao far too much respect. His work rate was way too low.

At 30 years old, he did not fight like a man who was 16 years younger than his opponent. Instead, he fought like a fighter who had been brought in to spar with a legend and didn’t want to go too hard or irritate or injure someone he looked up to and hoped to work with again.

Even when Barrios did have success—particularly with his jab and counters—he rarely followed up with sustained pressure. Barrios’ corner told him to stop touching gloves as they could see their fighter was falling into a respect trap, but he didn’t listen or couldn’t break the habit. That likely reinforced his overly cautious approach and it nearly cost him his title.

Was Pacquiao robbed? No, that word gets thrown around far too easily when it comes to the judges’ decision in combat sports. However, had Pacquiao gotten the nod, Barrios would have deserved the disappointing loss he was handed.

In case you’re wondering, Pacquiao said, “God willing, I’ll fight again.” He expressed an interest in a rematch with Barrios and the latter agreed. Seems like we’ll see this again later this year or early in 2026.