Manny Pacquiao still possesses blisteringly quick hands deep into his forties.
The Filipino legend is set to return to the ring at the age of 46 in a controversial WBC welterweight title fight against Mario Barrios on July 19 in Las Vegas, and is leaving no stone unturned in preparation.
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Pacquiao recently flew to Los Angeles to start his camp with long-time trainer Freddie Roach at the famous Wildcard Gym.
Just like in his prime years, ‘Pacman’ has been putting on plenty of open workouts to give the media and fans a glimpse of what to expect on fight night.
While he is nowhere near the boxer he once was, the lone eight-weight world champion is still able to put together an impressive shadow boxing routine.
His fast-twitch muscles still appear to be firing, but as we saw with Mike Tyson in his fight with Jake Paul last November, training footage can be deceiving.
Working out alongside Pacquiao all the way is his son, Emmanuel Pacquiao Jr, who is set to make his professional boxing debut on the Barrios undercard.
Emmanuel is listed as 6-4 in the amateurs on BoxRec, although his full record is thought to be closer to 9-5.
He has been learning his trade under the watchful eye of Roach, with Marvin Somodo acting as head trainer.
The 24-year-old super lightweight is ironically closer in age to Barrios than his father is.
Pacquiao’s opponent recently celebrated his 30th birthday, making him 16 years the Hall of Fame inductee’s junior.
Their upcoming clash will mark Pacquiao’s first professional outing since his convincing unanimous decision loss to Yordenis Ugas in August 2021.
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Barrios has fought five times during Pacquiao’s hiatus and beat Ugas in 2023 to lay claim to the WBC interim welterweight trinket.
He was subsequently elevated to full world champion one year later when Terence Crawford relinquished the green and gold strap to move up to super welterweight.
Souleymane Cissokho cemented his status as WBC mandatory with a win over Egidijus Kavaliauskas earlier this month.
However, the WBC have chosen to sanction a world title shot for Pacquiao after recently ranking him at No.5 in their 147lbs ratings.
According to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, Pacquiao has been licensed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission and has passed all of the medical tests required to be re-issued with a professional license.
Yet several members of the boxing fraternity remain concerned about the potential health implications Pacquiao faces as he gears up to make a comeback.
