By Norm Frauenheim
LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao stepped off a scale and looked up toward a corner high above the floor at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. It was a flag that celebrated his legacy. It was also a symbol of a story still unfolding.
Another chapter awaits, this one as risky as any in the iconic career of a fighter now 46 and still fighting for more more.
The flag was there to mark Pacquiao’s 16th bout at the old arena. After it’s over Saturday night, nobody in the rich history of the historic address near the well-traveled intersection at Tropicana and The Strip will have fought there as often.
Pacquiao will rank No. 1, one bout more than his old rival Floyd Mayweather and four more than Oscar De La Hoya, who ranks third on the list and perhaps first among the Pacquiao victories that turned him into an enduring Filipino legend.
The question, of course, is whether the flag will wave goodbye or say hello to another chapter in Pacquiao’s pursuit of history. He’s written a lot of it.
He’s been a champion in eight different weight classes. After a political career that included a run for the Filipino presidency, the Sergeant, Senator and statesman is back in an attempt to become the second-oldest champion in boxing history.
To pull it off, he’ll have to beat a fighter 16 years his junior (Prime Video on card starting at 8 pm ET/5 pm PT). Thirty year-old Mario Barrios has a belt — the World Boxing Council’swelterweight version — and a fresh face without any of the gray that’s evident in Pacquiao’s facial hair.
On the scale Friday at a ceremonial weigh-in in front of a roaring crowd, Barrios came in at 146.2 pounds looking every much as though he had done the work. His trainer Bob Santos bragged and gestured about a sculpted upper body that suggests no task was left undone. Pacquiao, who was at 146.8 pounds, looked solid, yet far from the Bruce Lee look-alike of a decade ago.
Those different looks — gray-streaked beard and young fresh face — stood in contrast, a stark reflection of all the risks Pacquiao faces. Yet, risk has always been a part of his story. It’s why he fights. Why we watch.
He took a risk against a bigger and better-known name in De La Hoya in 2008. He blew him away, stole De La Hoya’s celebrity and created his own kind of global stardom.
This time, however the risk is in the nature of time itself. How much of it has eroded the magnificent reflexes Pacquiao had in his prime? How will he attack Barrios’ superior reach and punches when Pacquiao steps inside.
There’s a minefield full of questions, the simplest of which might be the one that confronts everybody in the middle-aged demographic.
Who will get up Saturday morning? The Pacquiao we remember against De La Hoya, Marco Antonio Barrera, Erik Morales and so many more? Or will he be just another 46-year-old guy struggling to walk through the aches and pains that come with the years. It’s impossible to say, which makes this fight impossible to pick.
Pacquiao hasn’t fought since his scorecard loss to late stand-in Yordenis Ugas four years ago. Ugas’ youth and slick footwork — combined with some youthful energy — allowed the Cuban to dart in, out and away in a slow, yet deliberate plan that Pacquiao failed to counter.
A key question is whether the middle-aged Pacquiao will have to try to take out Barrios early. Fatigue appeared to be a Barrios’ weakness in a draw with Abel Ramos last November. Ramos was able to catch and hurt him with successive body shots over the last four to five rounds.
But Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs) wasn’t fighting a 46-year-old man. Ramos, an aggressive welterweight from Casa Grande south of Phoenix, is 34.
Nevertheless, Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs) is confident that four years away from the ring helped him conserve much of his skillset and energy.
The four years, he said, were a time of healing and re-evaluating what he wanted in life, post-politics.
“I missed boxing,’’ Pacquiao said. “The four years were good. It was good to rest.’’
But time doesn’t rest. It keeps moving forward, stubbornly and in the relentless way that defined the Pacquiao reign from flyweight to junior middleweight.
Pacquiao stopped most everybody he faced. But not even he couldn’t stop that clock, his biggest opponent in one the biggest risks he’ll face in a many-sided life.
Pacquiao has made a lifestyle out of doing what people think he can’t. That’s a reason not to pick against him versus Barrios or anybody else he might face if a victory Saturday launches him into another risky date against another young champion. Maybe, a rematch with Mayweather awaits him. Pacquiao is never out of options, promise and potential.
Against Barrios, however, the question is whether he’s out of time.
