LAS VEGAS – Because the outcome of Manny Pacquiao's title fight against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios last Sunday ended in a majority draw, there was immediate talk of a rematch.
Not so fast, guys, said MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons Monday, shooting down the popular notion that Pacquiao and Barrios should mix it up again to decide once and for all who the better fighter was.
READ How much did Manny Pacquiao make in comeback fight vs Barrios?
Who Gibbons have in mind, however, as the next Pacquiao foe are world champions Gervonta Davis or Rolly Romero.
“Those are the real names outright, Rolly Romero and Gervonta Davis that you need to get,” said Gibbons.
“Not unless Jake Paul is available,” he jokingly added, referring to the popular American influencer and pro boxer.
Gibbons doesn’t see a Pacquiao-Barrios Part II as attractive as the first one when the two drew an MGM Grand Garden Arena crowd of 13,107 and fought a fight that may not have lived up to its billing, but had the fans agitated throughout.
One judge had it for Barrios, 115-133, and two judges scored it a draw, 114-114.
Following the inconclusive result, a rematch was quickly floated, to which both Barrios and Pacquiao were both amenable.
Who wants Gibbons?
Not Gibbons, though.
“Who the f..k wants to see him (Barrios). Manny Pacquiao beat Mario Barrios. Why does he need to fight him again?” said the MP official, whose opinion is, of course, self-serving and biased.
“If Manny wants to continue fighting, there’s fighters like Rolly Romero, there’s fighters like Gervonta Davis, there’s other guys out there.”
Romero is currently the World Boxing Association welterweight king, while Davis is the reigning WBA lightweight title holder.
READ Thurman on Pacquiao: 'He looked good, he didn’t look great'
Sought for his thoughts later on, the 46-year-old Pacquiao said nothing is really cast in stone yet.
“Pag-aaralan pa lahat,” he said after presiding over a Sunday fellowship less than 24 hours after his fight with the 30-year-old Barrios.
During the religious service, boxing’s only eight-time world division champion also expressed fulfillment with the way he performed in his first title fight after a four-year absence in the ring.
“I know a lot of people were disappointed, but that’s OK. It’s all part of the game,” said Pacquiao.
“Mas mabuti na ito kaysa dati, natalo tayo,” he added, referring to his last title fight against Yordenis Uga before retiring in 2021.
Pacquiao and the rest of his entourage later departed for Los Angeles, where the boxing icon and his family will stay until the first week of August to attend the wedding of his son Jimuel.
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