Manny Pacquiao vs Mario Barrios: Scorecards, punch stats

Punch statistics tell a different story than the official result that was declared for Manny Pacquiao’s comeback, aged 46, against Mario Barrios in Saturday’s WBC welterweight world championship boxing bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao rolled back the years to produce a performance for the ages, as he showed his signature speed, pivoted well, and continued to bamboozle Barrios deep into the fight, regardless of the champion’s valiant comeback, before a wildly-controversial majority draw verdict was announced.

One judge, Max DeLuca, scored the fight as a narrow 115-113 win for Barrios, but this was overturned by two scores of 114-114 from Tim Cheatam and Steve Weisfeld. Official punch stats via Compubox suggest the scores should have been markedly different.

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Punch Statistics Tell Different Story in Manny Pacquiao vs Mario Barrios

Pacquiao threw more, and landed more

Though Pacquiao may have looked the flashier fighter, punch statistics suggest Barrios did more than enough to win, as ‘El Azteca’ landed 120 shots from 658 thrown, which is more in both departments than PacMan, who landed 101 from 577 thrown.

Pacquiao, regardless, believes that he should have been declared the fight’s winner.

He continued: “I had to find a way to finish the fight better, but my opponent is so tough. He threw a lot of good combinations and had defense. It was a tough fight.”

He finished by remarking that, if he had a longer camp, he’d perhaps be able to perform even better if and when a rematch against Barrios is booked. “I need to continue my training for longer going into a championship fight,” he said. “Because of the election, I started late, but it’s okay. Of course, I’d like a rematch. I want to leave a legacy and make the Filipino people proud.”

The controversial nature of the result means that a do-over could be booked for later in the year. It’s even something the champion, Barrios, said he’d welcome.

“It was an honor to share the ring with him,” said Barrios. “This is by far the biggest event I’ve had to date, and we came in here and left everything in the ring. I have nothing but respect for Manny.”

He finished:

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