Pacquiao falls short of history, draws with Barrios

Manny Pacquiao (62-8-3, 39 KOs) attempted to become oldest fighter to win world title in welterweight division. But he fell short archiving this. 46-year-old got a majority draw in the fight against WBC World welterweight champion Mario Barrios (29-2-2) on Saturday night in MGM Grad Arena in Las Vegas.

Two judges scored the fight as draw (114:114) and one saw Barrios as winner (115:113).

Pacquaio, eight-division world champion, thought he won the fight and asked for a rematch.

“I thought I won the fight,” a dejected Pacquiao said. “It was a close fight. He was very tough.”

“I need to continue my training for longer going into a championship fight,” said Pacquiao, who announced his return to the ring in May after falling short in his run for senator. “Because of the election I started late, but it’s OK. Of course I’d like a rematch. I want to leave a legacy and make the Filipino people proud.”

Barrios said he would be interested in sharing the ring with the legend again.

“I’ll do the rematch,” Barrios said. “Absolutely. This was huge for boxing. I’d love to do it again.”

In co-main event Sebastian Fundora (23-1-1) defended his WBC World super-welterweight title, defeating Tim Tsyu (25-3) for the second time.

Tszyu retired after seven rounds. Australian was dropped once in round one and was clear behind on points.