As the old sports adage goes, Father Time is undefeated. But every once in a while, someone walks in and defies the odds.
Manny Pacquiao will attempt to do just that when he steps into the ring, coming off a four-year retirement, on July 19 against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
At 46 years old, Pacquiao is chasing history. Beating Barrios won’t just add to his legend; it also makes him one of the oldest boxers to win a world title.
Bernard Hopkins
Bernard Hopkins, of the United States, leaves the ring after defeating Beibut Shumenov, of Kazakhstan, by a split decision after their IBF, WBA and IBA Light Heavyweight World Championship unification boxing match, Sunday, April 20, 2014, in Washington. AP
The oldest world boxing champion? Bernard Hopkins owns that distinction.
Hopkins has held the record since winning the WBC light heavyweight title after beating Jean Pascal in May 2011 at the age of 46 years and 126 days old.
READ: Bernard Hopkins backs Manny Pacquiao to upset Mario Barrios
The ageless Hopkins, who had his best years as an undisputed middleweight king, went on to reset his mark thrice.
After losing the world title to Chad Dawson in April 2012, Hopkins regained his world champion status in March 2023, defeating Tavoris Cloud on points to claim the IBF light heavyweight crown at 48 years old. He retained the belt seven months later with a unanimous decision victory over Karo Murat.
Showing no signs of slowing down, Hopkins topped himself again after unifying the IBF and WBA titles, edging Beibut Shumenov in April 2014 when he was already 49 years and 94 days old.
His record-setting title reign came to an end against Sergey Kovalev in November 2014. At 51 years old, Hopkins came back and took his first stoppage loss at the hands of a 27-year-old Joe Smith Jr. in December 2016 in what turned out to be the last bout of his storied career.
George Foreman
IBF heavyweight champion George Foreman of the US smiles as he holds belts for the International Boxing Federation (IBF) championship and the World Boxing Union (WBU) championship after defeating Axel Schulz of Germany in a 12-round decision at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas 22 April. AFP PHOTO (Photo by JEFF HAYNES / AFP)
Before Bernard Hopkins, the late George Foreman was the oldest to claim a major boxing crown.
And he did it in spectacular fashion after scoring a stunning 10th-round knockout of a 26-year-old Michael Moorer in November 1994. At that time, Foreman, who captured the IBF and WBA heavyweight belts, was 45 years old.
READ: Boxing great George Foreman dead at 76, says family
He retained the IBF heavyweight strap at 46 years and 102 days old when he clipped Axel Shulz by majority decision in April 1995.
Foreman last fought in November 1997, losing to Shannon Briggs by majority decision less than two months before his 49th birthday.
Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes
Heavyweight challenger Larry Holmes, 45, flexes his muscles during the weigh-in ceremonies 07 April at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. Holmes, who weighed in at 236 lbs, will fight Oliver McCall for the WBC title 08 April. AFP PHOTO (Photo by JOHN GURZINSKI / AFP)
Although it had been done before, it’s still no easy feat.
In fact, there had been a few who tried and failed. Among them were legendary heavyweights Evander Holyfield and Larry Holmes. Holyfield was 46 years and 62 days old when he challenged for the WBA belt.
He came up short, dropping a majority decision to Nikolai Valuev in December 2008.
Holmes suffered the same fate in April 1995.
Riding on seven straight wins following a loss to Holyfield, Holmes was 45 years old when he got another world title shot.
Holmes, however, ran into a confident Oliver McCall, who was coming off a surprising knockout of Lennox Lewis. Holmes lost to McCall by unanimous decision.
Manny Pacquiao
History beckons for Manny Pacquiao.
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Pacquiao had already said that he plans to become the oldest world champion in boxing history.
He moves closer to that goal when he beats Mario Barrios, who is 16 years his junior.
A victory will make Pacquiao, who will be exactly 46 years and 214 days old on fight night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, the second oldest just behind Hopkins.
