Following an exhibition over the weekend, World Boxing News received an update on Manny Pacquiao’s status from WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman.
The Filipino icon took far too many shots against the rangy kickboxer Rukiya Anpo, and Pacquiao appeared to be a ghost of the man he once was. Due to the lack of judges present for the Super RIZIN 3 “Special Standing Rules” match, the fight was automatically declared a draw after three rounds.
Still, the numbers showed that Anpo defeated Pacquiao 2 to 1. Despite having no prior boxing experience and going up against a legend in the sport, Anpo would have most certainly defeated Pacquiao in any legitimate match based on those punch numbers.
Prior to the fight over the weekend, Pacquiao’s possible matchup with WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios was widely reported. Because of Pacquiao’s legendary position in boxing, the WBC had already declared that they would contemplate approving the championship bout.
After his lackluster performance against Anpo, many questioned Pacquiao’s capacity to compete at 45 years old. After what was seen, Pacquiao would be outmatched by a youthful, motivated challenger like Barrios, and the WBC could be embarrassed if they supported an elderly former pound-for-pound champion only to have him lose horribly.
Update on Manny Pacquiao vs. Mario Barrios
WBN thus got in touch with Sulaiman to find out how he felt about Pacquiao vs. Anpo. The WBC President then disclosed the current status of the possible fight.
Exclusive to World Boxing News, Sulaiman said, “I didn’t watch the exhibition.” However, he didn’t appear good, I heard.
“We don’t have a petition for the WBC to consider, and as you are aware, the WBC Board as a whole makes decisions rather than individual members. So let’s see what happens next,” he continued.
The lack of an official bid by Pacquiao for a title shot may indicate that the “Pac-Man” himself wanted to determine how far from full health he truly was. It goes without saying that Pacquiao would intensify his training regimen if he was guaranteed a title fight.
The fact that Pacquiao has been making training photos and videos public for months raises concerns about how tough those sessions actually were.
One strategy to keep the WBC championship fight going would be for Pacquiao to fight in September or October as a professional warm-up, then take on Barrios in December. In this manner, Pacquiao would be able to objectively assess his next attempts after completing a more major training camp.