Mario “El Azteca” Barrios never hid his admiration for Manny Pacquiao’s Hall-of-Fame résumé - but his favorite Pac-Man memory is the night Juan Manuel Marquez left the Filipino icon face-down at MGM Grand in 2012. Thirteen years later and in the very same arena, Barrios insists he will author the sequel from the opposite corner, defending his WBC welterweight title against a 46-year-old Pacquiao who is returning after a four-year hiatus.
Barrios, 30, enters at 29-2-1 (18 KOs) and wears his Mexican heritage proudly, framing the bout as payback for Pacquiao’s long list of victories over Mexican greats. Trainer Bob Santos echoes that mindset: “We’re preparing for the best Manny Pacquiao,” he said, recalling how the underdog senator floored Keith Thurman and stole a decision in 2019. “On July 19, with all due respect to the icon, Mario Barrios will be victorious.”
Replicating Pacquiao’s unpredictable southpaw angles was “not an easy style to copy,” Barrios conceded, so camp featured a revolving door of left-handed sparring partners. Still, he believes the rounds banked and a “really good game plan” will neutralize whatever flash of vintage Pac-Man remains.
Friendly off-camera but eager for combat, Barrios says the pre-fight chatter has run its course. “I’m ready for war,” he declared, promising to march to the ancestral drums that accompany his ring walks and avenge his Mexican forebears. Whether Pacquiao can summon one more night of magic - or whether Father Time finally silences the eight-division legend - will be settled under the Las Vegas lights this Saturday.