Pacquiao sparring partner for Barrios fight honestly predicts Mayweather rematch

An unbeaten contender who helped Manny Pacquiao prepare for Mario Barrios has offered his take on the Filipino’s rematch with Floyd Mayweather.

Over a decade removed from their first encounter, the two pound-for-pound greats will square off at the Sphere, Las Vegas, on September 19.

As expected, many are favouring the technical brilliance and defensive mastery of Mayweather, especially given the convincing nature of his points victory over ‘Pac Man’ in 2015.

At the age of 49, though, it remains to be seen whether the five-weight world champion is capable of producing a similarly impressive performance.

As for Pacquiao, it could be said that he exceeded the majority of expectations when he fought to a controversial draw with Barrios last July.

Back then, Barrios was the defending WBC world welterweight champion, yet Pacquiao gave him all he could handle and arguably deserved to emerge victorious.

One man who shared multiple rounds with the eight-weight world champion during that camp is lightweight prospect Samuel Contreras, who gave the 47-year-old a slight edge against Mayweather in his interview with FightHype.

“I think it’ll be a good fight – they’re around the same age. I’m looking forward to seeing that, and hopefully I’m in [Pacquiao’s] camp again.

“I would go for Manny, not just because I was in camp with him; I just really like how he fights, how [much of] a smart fighter he is and how [much of] a hard worker he is.”

Prior to facing Barrios, Pacquiao had not fought professionally since 2021, back when he lost a unanimous decision to Yordenis Ugas.

Mayweather’s last professional outing, meanwhile, could hardly be considered a credible fight, given that it ended with a 10th-round finish over Conor McGregor in 2017.

Before that, the American defeated Andre Berto by unanimous decision and is now gearing up to put his 50-0 (27 KOs) record on the line.