FORMER two-time world welterweight king Shawn Porter believes that Manny Pacquiao can beat reigning American World Boxing Council welterweight champ Mario Barrios but warned that the Pinoy ring icon should avoid International Boxing Federation welterweight titlist Jaron Ennis.
Set to come out of a three-year retirement, Pacquiao, 45, through MP Promotions chief Sean Gibbons, and Barrios have been negotiating for a potentially lucrative world championship match sometime in the last quarter of 2024.
Porter, who used to hold the IBF and WBC belts, said Pacquiao has what it takes to wrest the crown from Barrios but should shy away from knockout artist Ennis, 27, who has an immaculate record of 32 wins spiked by 29 knockouts.
“I don’t think Pacquiao has the punch resistance to get in the ring with Boots (Ennis) anymore,” Porter, who has morphed into a respected boxing analyst, was quoted by boxingscene.com writer Tom Ivers as saying in a story posted on the website yesterday (Wednesday in the US).
“Once upon a time, that (Pacquiao-Ennis) would have been an amazing fight based on who Boots is now and based on who Pac used to be. Pac just isn’t that guy anymore. Mario (Barrios) is too slow, takes too many punches,” he noted.
Porter said he prefers that Pacquiao, who is itching to get back into the ring since losing his World Boxing Association super welterweight belt by unanimous decision to crafty Cuban Yordenis Ugas in 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, stays retired.
“As far as that (Barrios) fight goes, I’m at the point where I hate to see some of these guys come back and get in the ring,” Porter said. “It’s what they want to do — I really don’t like it. I’m trying to rewrite that narrative, once you’re retired, stay retired, find other things to do.
“I think Pac will come back and I think he will win that fight (against Barrios), but outside of that, Jaron (Jennis) is a fighter you stay away from.”
Before the crack at Barrios’ title materializes, Pacquiao is set to fight mixed martial arts fighter Chihiro Suzuki in a three-round exhibition match at a catchweight of 149.9 pounds on July 28 at the Saitama Super Arena in the Saitama, Japan.
