Pacquiao: Height doesn’t matter

The overall concern over Manny Pacquiao’s well-being heightened further Saturday (Sunday morning in Manila) when he met defending World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Mario Barrios for the first time in a news conference in Las Vegas.

Standing at six-feet tall, Barrios looked like Goliath as he stared down at the eight-division legend, six inches shorter, as they hype their scheduled 12-round battle for the WBC 147-pound title on 19 July at the MGM Grand.

Pacquiao was unfazed at the sight of the hulking Barrios,a San Antonio, Texas native who will be making the second defense of the championship.

“I have been in this situation many times before,” Pacquiao, 46, said, noting how he handled the likes of Antonio Margarito (about the same height as Barrios) and the duo of Chris Algieri and Oscar De La Hoya, who both stand a shade under five-feet-ten inches.

In amassing a 62-8-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 knockouts, Pacquiao insists he still has a lot of competitive juice flowing and that he is aching to pull off another surprise just like in the past.

“I love coming up with surprises and that’s what I am going to do,” he added.

Barrios, who wasn’t born yet when Pacquiao had his first professional bout in January 1995, swears he is determined to bring the WBC strap back to his home but is nonetheless thrilled to be facing off with the Filipino icon.

Holding a 29-2-1 mark with 18 knockouts, Barrios showed utmost respect to Pacquiao when they engaged in a faceoff following their initial meeting held at the Mandalay Bay, which is right across from the site of their showdown next month.

Pacquiao arrived in the United States two weeks ago and immediately plunged into training at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.

The obvious betting underdog, Pacquiao is aiming to reset his own record by becoming the oldest fighter to win a world welterweight title.

He had done so in 2019 at age 40 when he beat Keith Thurman.

And if he upsets Barrios, he would also become the second oldest fighter to win a world title after Bernard Hopkins (49 years old) and relegating George Foreman (46 years and 169 days old) to third place at age 45.