Roxas City — Former Bacolod City Mayor and current president of the Samahang Weightlifting ng Pilipinas Monico Puentevella believes there is still a strong chance for a rematch between Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios, following their controversial bout Saturday in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In an interview with Bombo Radyo Roxas, Puentevella, who watched the fight live at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, shared his thoughts on Pacquiao’s remarkable performance at age 46 despite having retired from boxing four years ago.
According to Puentevella, Pacquiao started strong and appeared to dominate the early rounds, showing flashes of his legendary skill and speed. While he acknowledged that the fight was close and some rounds were difficult to score, he felt Pacquiao deserved the win.
“It was a good fight. Barrios couldn’t do much, but Pacquiao also seemed to miscalculate at times, thinking he could easily dominate. He wasn’t able to fully take control,” Puentevella noted.
He stressed that there was no apparent cheating during the fight, but the judges’ decision simply did not go in Pacquiao’s favor. Two judges scored the fight a 114-114 draw, while one judge gave it 115-113 for Barrios. Unofficial scorecards even had it 116-113 in favor of Pacquiao.
Puentevella added that merely lasting the full 12 rounds and keeping up with the much younger Barrios was already an extraordinary achievement for Pacquiao. For this reason, he said the story is far from over and hopes a rematch will happen to settle the score.
“What’s important is this is not yet the end for Manny. I hope the rematch happens,” Puentevella concluded.
