In 1991, Sugar Ray Leonard was training to fight Terry Norris. Norris wasn’t a household name for the casual fan, so most didn’t think he was a threat, and why not?
Leonard had come out of retirement and received a controversial split decision against Marvin Hagler. A brutal knockout of Donny Lalonde followed that; he stole a draw against Thomas Hearns and a listless win over Roberto Duran.
Norris made sure the Leonard hype train would come to an end. Leonard was floored twice (2nd and 7th round) in the unanimous defeat (110-116, 104-120, 103-119).
Leonard would fight one more time (a loss to Hector Camacho) before retiring for good.
With little to no fanfare, Manny Pacquiao is back.
The last time we saw Pacquiao (62-8-2) in the ring, Yordenis Ugas was beating him around the ring. The scorecards (113-115, 112-116, 112-116) were closer than the fight. That was four years ago.
On July 19th, Pacquiao will step into the ring with Mario Barrios (29-2-1).
Like Norris, Barrios might not be a household name to the casual fan, but his only two losses were at the hands Gervonta Davis and Keith Thurman.
Barrios has a dominating unanimous decision win (117-108, 118-107, 118-107) over Ugas. In that fight, Barrios sent Ugas to the canvas in the 2nd and 12th rounds.
The old Pacquiao would love this fight. Two things you know about Barrios are that he wants to fight in close proximity and loves exchanges. That would spell disaster at one time, but who knows how much Pacquiao has left.
If Pacquiao has a little life left in his punches, he could catch Barrios in the sweet spot, but if Barrios absorbs Pacquiao’s power, this could spell trouble.
The other saving grace could be Barrios himself. If he thinks he can end Pacquiao with a knockout instead of just winning. That would leave Pacquiao with the opportunity to get a George Foreman-over-Michael Moorer type of win.
If not, Pacquiao could suffer the same fate that Leonard suffered at the hands of Norris.
