Boxing

Manny Pacquiao's Ex-Teammate Predicts 'Dangerous' Fight Outcome vs Mario Barrios

Boxing icon Amir Khan doesn't think Manny Pacquiao is making a wise choice to come out of retirement.

Grant Young

IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

There are exactly 50 days from now until the time 46-year-old Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao returns to the ring to face reigning WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios. This return is prompting a lot of conflicting emotions from boxing fans. While some are excited to see the beloved boxer come out of retirement, many others are worried that the sport has passed Pacquiao by.

And entering into a professional boxing fight (especially against someone as high-level as Barrios) can be a dangerous proposition for anyone, let alone a 46-year-old whose reflexes have surely slowed, whose agility has withered, and whose best days are behind him.

One guy who knows both Barrios and Pacquiao well is British icon Amir Khan, who won a silver medal at the 2004 Olympics and held both the WBA (Super) and IBF light-welterweight titles during his iconic career. Khan spent a ton of time with Pacquiao in the ring, as Khan has said the two apparently sparred over 300 rounds together. They were also scheduled to fight each other at one point.

Khan has also sparred with Barrios in the past and therefore knows both fighters well. This is why it was fascinating to hear his opinion of their upcoming fight during a recent interview with Sky Sports.

"If they were in their prime, in their peak, then I'd say all day Manny Pacquiao. But this could be a tricky fight for Pacquiao," Khan said after discussing his time spent sparring Barrios. He then added, "At the end of the day, [Pacquiao has] been out of the ring for a long time and has he still got the fire in his belly? Barrios, I'm sure he's going to come in wanting to win this fight because it can change his life.

MORE: SeveraSeveral Major Fights Confirmed For Pacquiao-Barrios Undercard

"A long lay-off and at the same time you're always that one punch away from getting hurt. I'm sure he's got a great career ahead of him in politics," Khan continued. "I think it will be a fantastic fight but if I was to advise Manny I wouldn't say to come back. You should come back to someone that's already retired, someone like myself for example, because then it's an even fight.

"But when you look at a young fighter who's still a fighter, who's still boxing, who's active, sometimes it's dangerous," Khan concluded.

This is surely not what Pacquiao fans were hoping to hear in terms of a fight prediction.

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Grant Young
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Grant Young covers Boxing, Women’s Basketball, and the New York Mets for On SI. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco, where he also played Division 1 baseball for five years, and he thinks it’s time that Canelo Álvarez fights David Benavidez.