Los Angeles – in the recently named Freddie Roach Square shopping center in Hollywood, a crowd gathers, which collects in Hollywood, in the middle of a hot July.

They are not necessarily for food, although the word is that food is delicious. They are waiting for the only eight -time world champion in boxing, politician and the most notable athlete of the Philippines, Manny Pacquiao, to visit his favorite restaurant, just as he is known after training in the legendary Vine Street Roach gym, Wild Card Boxing. Four years have passed since Pacquiao trained at Wild Card, and those in the crowd were not sure that they would see him here.

Some fans have photos to sign, others have boxing gloves. One person just has a child and a pen. Some just want to take a look at the lively legend before his return to the WBC WBC WBC Master Mario Barrios on Saturday in Las Vegas.

“I’m coming back because boxing is my passion,” said Pacquiao Espn. “That’s all I think about and I really like to create history.”

The 46-year-old Pacquiao announced a return to boxing after a four-year retirement after losing to Yordenis Ugas in 2021. The story he talks about would beat her own record as the oldest warrior who won Golda in semiconductor, and the feat he achieved, beating Keith Thurman with the title of WBA at the age of 40 in 2019. Title after induction, whether he should defeat Barrios.

Now, 24 years later, a warrior from General Santos in the Philippines has returned to where it all began: training at Wild Card under the watchful eye of Roach as weaker to fight for the title of master at MGM Grand Garden Arena.

Behind the closed Entrance at the back of a miniature parking lot Freddie Roach Square behind the door with the sign with the inscription: “Please close”, one of the most notable boxers in the world of chrząka and exhales when Shadowboxes, its calves tightening and relax with each blow. His friends and family are gathered in the gym, encouraging him. 65-year-old Roach, returned to a player who worked with masters such as Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan and Peter Quillin, has, among others, half a smile when he looks at how his student throws himself around the gym with the same enthusiasm, whose Roach he witnessed in 2001, when the then Pacquiao Pacquia saw him and asked him to keep him up For the fact that Traint held him for him.

“In May 2001 we only arrived in San Francisco on vacation and stopped for about a month and a half,” recalls Pacquiao. “But eventually we visited several gyms in Bay Area. Then we went by Greyhound bus to Los Angeles and asked if there was a boxing gym and a wild card was indicated.”

Roach was impressed when he got on the ring with Pacquiao.

After one round I went to the corner and told my boys: “I have a recent warrior!” And Manny went to his corner and he said [his manager] Rod [Nazario]”We have a recent trainer!” Roach said ESPN.

Less than a week in his recent relationship, Pacquiao was called to step on a two -week notification of Lehlo Ledwab’s forehead for the title IBF Junior Pen to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the formal introduction of the Philippine to the American audience. The time has come to see if the low time of Roach from Pacquiao would have any impact on his performance.

Spoiler alert: Yes.

The legendary commentator Jim Lampley has nice memories of the meeting with Pacquiao for the first time during the fight.

“At the meetings of Manny fighters, he tried to combine three or four words of English,” said Lampley ESPN. “At that time he did not have enormous English -speaking abilities, but he got his points. He communicated with us, and the next night he entered the ring and undressed Ledwab.”

To the surprise of all followers, Pacquiao broke through the hardly striking Ledwab, stopping him in the sixth round to win the second of 12 world titles in record eight classes of weight.

That night, everything changed in the case of Pacquiao, Roach and Wild Card.

“When Manny defeated Ledwab, Wild Card felt like it was the headquarters of the Manny Pacquiao fan club,” said Roach. “His fans are genial, but tenacious. They would gather in the parking lot to see him when he arrived, they ate lunch next to them, bought shirts and left. It is really amazing what is happening here when manny is in the city to train for fighting.”

Although certainly things It has changed within 24 years of this fight, many things remain the same. The fans are still tenacious, the fans are still stopping at Nat Thai, whenever Pacquiao is preparing to fight, and Hall of Famer still looks as always. He blows up a bulky bag by force and beats his sparring partners.

“I feel that I’m starting again,” said Pacquiao. “I am very passionate and the fire is burning in me again. One day I went 30 rounds, and Freddie had to enter to stop training.”

However, the fact is that it is a 46-year-old boxer who leaves a four-year pension in an incredible attempt to win the world championships. Pacquiao told ESPN that he needed four years to allow his body to cure and focus on a political career in the Philippines, which included a senatorial term in 2016-2022, in 2022 the presidential course in 2022 and the unsuccessful offer of returning to the Senate this year.

The former opponent of Pacquiao, who became the analyst Chris Algieri, believes that Pacquiao should have participated in the fight before he entered the ring with Barrios, who is 16 years elderly.

“[The time off] He absolutely did not assist him, “said ESPN Algieri, who lost the decision from Pacquiao in 2014.

Since the fight of Algeri, Pacquiao has gone 5-3 and is noticeably slower and less explosive. In his last fight with Ugas Pacquiao seemed afraid and for the first time he could not trust his athleticism to create a significant offensive explosion. Only 16% of his blows landed, which is a low career in a 12-round fight. Ugas and power stunned every physical advantage.

“I wasn’t really 100% concentrated because I had a continuous process in managing paradigm sports. There were many dispersion and I was disturbed by a training camp,” said Pacquiao. “On the night of the fight I could not move because my legs were tight, and this disappointed me, because Ugas was the easiest opponent of my career. I lost only because I could not move the way I wanted.”

“Far from me to say what manny can and can’t do, because I had a place in the ring to see how he has been unthinkable for years,” said Lampley. “I don’t think he defeat Barrios and I don’t know if I will be right about it. I can be wrong, but it is not logical. Logic is the father’s time. It is the inevitability of the final deterioration in boxing. This is what we have to expect. But if anyone can do it, then manny Pacquiao.”

Certainly it is a risk for a warrior closer to 50 than 40 to ask his body to do things he once did, especially against the younger and powerful opponent. However, this is a calculated risk that Pacquiao used when the right opportunity appeared. The possibility that he saw when he watched Barrios won less than the impressive victory over Fabian Maidana in May 2024 and again, when he fought with Ambel Ramos to part on the basis of Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson in November.

Although Pacquiao has not won the fight for six years, WBC rules say that the former master may ask for a fight for the title after retiring.

“Barrios is a adaptation for Pacquiao,” said Algeri. “[Barrios] He is a bulky warrior in the front, who does not differ in his stab, who fights his head on the front foot and will stand on the ground and trade blows. And he has quite sluggish feet. … if you are Manny Pacquiao and you are watching the last two fights of Barrios, there is no s —, he thinks he could beat this guy.

“But I haven’t seen Pacquiao for a long time.”

When Barrios heard Pacquiao chose him to return, he wasn’t sure what to think.

“It was fun that he knew who I was and wanted to fight me, but I did not know whether to take it as a form of respect or disrespect because he wanted to fight me,” Barrios said recently. “I respect him, but he tries to accept my title and I have to make sure that I do not.”

To return, Pacquiao needed the blessing of his wife, Jinkee, who asked her husband to retire repeatedly, in particular after Pacquiao was brutally knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.

“She saw that I still have this fire in me,” Pacquiao said about forcing my wife to return to boxing. “I told her that I could defeat Barrios and asked her what she thought.” Yes, you can fight him. If it’s your opponent, prove to me that you can fight. “

Despite this, even after signing Jinkee, why should he want to come back with everything he has already achieved?

“I always bring surprises,” said Pacquiao smiling after training hours. “Nobody thought I would beat Ledwab. I surprised everyone when I defeated Marco Antonio Barrera. Nobody thought I would beat Erik Morales. I like to bring fans of good surprises and I know that I could beat Mario Barrios.”