'If anyone can do it, Manny can': Pacquiao back at Wild Card
MANILA, Philippines — Manny Pacquiao has set foot once more at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles — his longtime training base in the United States — to resume preparations for his imminent boxing return.
Coverage was rife in social media about Pacquiao’s return to the famous Hollywood sweatshop owned by Freddie Roach, who is likewise back to train the Filipino icon for his upcoming fight with World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
PACMAN IS BACK AT WILD CARD! ????????????????
— OLE (@pinoyboxingno1) May 19, 2025
Eight-division boxing world champion Manny Pacquiao and his longtime trainers Buboy Fernandez and Freddie Roach have commenced their training camp at the renowned Wild Card Boxing Gym in Los Angeles, California.
????: Jhay Oh Otamias pic.twitter.com/wA5FAUmAcQ
Pacquiao (62-8-2, with 39 knockouts) and his team arrived in the City of Angels Monday (Manila time), and it’s been reported that a press conference is scheduled this week to announce the Barrios fight — Pacquiao’s first pro bout since the boxer announced his retirement four years ago.
For the fight scheduled sometime in July, the 46-year-old Pacquiao has again put Roach in charge of his training — an enduring sports partnership that molded Pacquiao from a “diamond in the rough” into one of the all-time boxing greats.
This time however, age and inactivity are working against the Filipino southpaw. Against the 30-year-old, 5-foot-9 Barrios (29-2-1, with 18 KOs), he is facing a much younger, more active and bigger fighter.
But Roach, as expected, remains a firm believer in his prized ward.
“It's a tough road for anyone at this age to do what Manny is trying to do. But if anyone can do it, Manny can,” the bespectacled trainer, now 65, said in a report by Ring Magazine, quoting a statement from Roach’s publicist Fred Sternburg.
A light workout marked Pacquiao’s first day at the Wild Card. Also in attendance was Filipino fighter and former WBC featherweight champion Mark Magsayo, who interestingly fought in the undercard of Pacquiao’s last fight as a pro — in 2021 in Las Vegas, against Yordenis Ugas.
The reason, the ????,my idol ???????? @mannypacquiao #MMM #MP #pacman #pacquiao pic.twitter.com/PwQRYRcDQr
— Mark Magnifico Magsayo (@markmagsayo_MMM) May 20, 2025
Pacquiao, who recently lost a bid to return to the Senate, is bound for the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He is expected to take a brief break from training to attend the induction rites early June in Canastota, New York.
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