LOS ANGELES -- There's a crowd gathering outside Nat Thai Food at the recently named Freddie Roach Square shopping center in Hollywood, in the middle of a warm July day.
They aren't necessarily there for the food, although the word is that the food is delicious. They are waiting for boxing's only eight-division world champion, a politician and the Philippines' most famous athlete, Manny Pacquiao, to visit his favorite restaurant, as he has been known to do after training at Roach's legendary Vine Street gym, Wild Card Boxing. It had been four years since Pacquiao trained at Wild Card, and those in the crowd weren't sure they'd see him here again.
Some fans have photos to sign, others have boxing gloves. One person just has a baby and a pen. Some just want to catch a glimpse of the living legend ahead of his return fight against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios on Saturday in Las Vegas (Amazon Prime Video PPV, 8 p.m. ET).
"I'm coming back because boxing is my passion," Pacquiao told ESPN. "It's all I think about, and I really like to make history."
Pacquiao, 46, announced his return to boxing after a four-year retirement following his loss to Yordenis Ugas in 2021. The history he speaks of would be breaking his own record as the oldest fighter to win welterweight gold, a feat he accomplished by beating Keith Thurman for the WBA title at age 40 in 2019. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame on June 8 and would become the first fighter to win a major world title post-induction, should he defeat Barrios.
Now, 24 years later, the fighter out of General Santos, Philippines, is back where it all started: training at Wild Card under the watchful eye of Roach as the underdog for a world title fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
BEHIND A GATED entrance at the rear of the small Freddie Roach Square parking lot behind a door with a sign that reads, "Please Keep Closed," one of the world's most famous boxers grunts and exhales as he shadowboxes, his calves tightening and relaxing with every punch. His friends and family are gathered in the gym, urging him on. Roach, 65, a fighter-turned-trainer who has worked with champions such as Miguel Cotto, Amir Khan and Peter Quillin, among others, is wearing a half smile as he watches his pupil dart around the gym with the same fervor that Roach witnessed in 2001, when a then-unknown Pacquiao visited the gym and asked the trainer to hold mitts for him.
"In May 2001, we came to San Francisco just for a vacation and stayed for about a month and a half," Pacquiao recalled. "But we ended up visiting a few gyms in the Bay Area. We then rode a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles and asked around if there was a boxing gym and were pointed to Wild Card."
Roach was impressed from the moment he got in the ring with Pacquiao.
"After one round, I went to my corner and told my guys, 'I have a new fighter!' and Manny went to his corner and told [his manager] Rod [Nazario], 'We have a new trainer!'" Roach told ESPN.
Less than a week into their new relationship, Pacquiao was called to step in on two weeks' notice to face Lehlo Ledwaba for the IBF junior featherweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the Filipino's formal introduction to American audiences. It was time to see whether Roach's brief time with Pacquiao would have any impact on his performance.
Spoiler alert: It did.
Legendary commentator Jim Lampley has fond memories of meeting Pacquiao for the first time in the lead-up to the fight.
"In fighter meetings, Manny struggled to put three or four words of English together," Lampley told ESPN. "He did not have a great deal of English-speaking capacity at that time, but he got his points across. He communicated with us, and the following night he went into the ring and undressed Ledwaba."
To the surprise of everyone watching, Pacquiao tore through the hard-hitting Ledwaba, stopping him in the sixth round to win the second of 12 world titles across a record eight weight classes.
That night, everything changed for Pacquiao, Roach and Wild Card Boxing.
"Once Manny beat Ledwaba, Wild Card felt like it was a Manny Pacquiao Fan Club headquarters," Roach said. "His fans are friendly but relentless. They would congregate in the parking lot to see him when he arrived, they ate lunch next door, bought T-shirts and departed. It's really quite amazing what goes on here when Manny is in town to train for a fight."
WHILE THINGS CERTAINLY have changed in the 24 years since that fight, a lot of things remain the same. The fans are still relentless, fans still stop by Nat Thai whenever Pacquiao is preparing for a fight, and the Hall of Famer still looks as determined as ever. He's blasting the heavy bag with force and beating up his sparring partners.
"I feel like I'm starting over again," Pacquiao said. "I am so passionate, and the fire is burning inside me again. I went 30 rounds sparring the other day, and Freddie had to step in to make me stop training."
However, the fact remains that this is a 46-year-old boxer coming off a four-year retirement in an improbable attempt to win a world championship. Pacquiao told ESPN he needed the four years to allow his body to heal and to focus on his political career in the Philippines, which included a senatorial term from 2016 to 2022, a presidential run in 2022 that fell short and a failed bid to return to the Senate this year.
Former Pacquiao opponent-turned-analyst Chris Algieri believes Pacquiao should have taken a tuneup fight before stepping into the ring with Barrios, who is 16 years his junior.
"[The time off] absolutely did not help him," Algieri, who lost a decision to Pacquiao in 2014, told ESPN.
Since the Algieri fight, Pacquiao has gone 5-3 and is noticeably slower and less explosive. In his last fight against Ugas, Pacquiao appeared to be apprehensive and, for the first time, couldn't trust his athleticism to put together a substantial offensive explosion. He landed just 16% of his punches, a career low in a 12-round fight. Ugas' jab and power punching dulled every physical edge he had.
"I wasn't really 100% focused because I had an ongoing lawsuit with Paradigm Sports Management. There were a lot of distractions and I was bothered all through training camp," Pacquiao said. "On fight night, I couldn't move because my legs were cramping, and that disappointed me because Ugas was the easiest opponent of my career. I lost only because I couldn't move like I wanted to."
"Far be it from me to say what Manny can and can't do, because I have had a ringside seat to see him do the unthinkable for years, over and over again," Lampley said. "I don't think he'll beat Barrios, and I don't know that I'll be right about that. I could be wrong, but it's not logical. Logic is Father Time. That's the inevitability of ultimate deterioration in boxing. That's just what we have to expect. But if anybody can do it, it's Manny Pacquiao."
It is certainly a risk for a fighter closer to 50 than 40 to ask his body to do the things it used to do, especially against a younger and powerful opponent. But it is a calculated risk that Pacquiao took when the right opportunity presented itself. An opportunity he saw when watching Barrios' less-than-impressive win over Fabian Maidana in May 2024, and again when he battled Abel Ramos to a split draw on the undercard of Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson in November.
Even though Pacquiao hasn't won a fight in six years, the WBC's rules state a former champion can request a title fight after coming out of retirement.
"Barrios is tailormade for Pacquiao," Algieri said. "[Barrios] is a front-foot-heavy fighter who doesn't vary his jab, who fights with his head over his front foot and will stand his ground and trade punches. And he's got pretty slow feet. ... If you're Manny Pacquiao and you're watching Barrios' last two fights, no s--- he thinks he could beat that guy.
"But I haven't seen Pacquiao at his best in quite some time."
When Barrios heard Pacquiao had handpicked him for his return bout, he wasn't sure what to think.
"It was cool that he knew who I was and wanted to fight me, but I didn't know if to take it as a form of respect or disrespect because he wanted to fight me," Barrios said recently. "I respect him, but he's trying to take my title, and I have to make sure that he doesn't."
To make his return, Pacquiao needed the blessing of his wife, Jinkee, who had asked her husband to retire on numerous occasions, most notably after Pacquiao was brutally knocked out by Juan Manuel Marquez in 2012.
"She could see that I still had that fire in me," Pacquiao said of getting his wife to sign off on his return to boxing. "I told her that I could beat Barrios and asked her what she thought. She said, 'Yeah, you can fight him. If that's your opponent, prove to me that you can fight.'"
Still, even with Jinkee's sign-off, why would he want to come back with all that he has already accomplished?
"I always bring surprises," a smiling Pacquiao said after hours of training. "Nobody thought I'd beat Ledwaba. I surprised everyone when I beat Marco Antonio Barrera. Nobody thought I'd beat Erik Morales. I like bringing the fans good surprises and I know I can beat Mario Barrios."
PACQUIAO HAS HAD a career full of surprises inside the squared circle. A diminutive teenager who turned pro in 1995, Pacquiao made an unlikely ascent from 112 to 154 pounds and routinely proved the skeptics wrong during one of the most impressive stretches in boxing history as he collected world titles in a blistering display of offensive firepower.
For his fight with Barrios, Pacquiao will return to a familiar place where he made his American debut on short notice and offered his first of many surprises when he upset Ledwaba. He also pulverized Miguel Cotto, throttled Oscar De La Hoya and showed Father Time who the boss was when he beat Thurman, all at MGM Grand Garden Arena.
"I love making history there," Pacquiao said. "I have so many great memories and I never imagined after 24 years that I would come back to the MGM to win another world title. That's nothing but a blessing from God."
What the future holds for Pacquiao after Saturday could also be a surprise. Should he make history again, would Pacquiao be comfortable riding off into the sunset, or is this the beginning of yet another improbable chapter of his career?
"It's hard to say what tomorrow holds," Pacquiao said after a long pause. "I always leave it to God, and he gave me the chance to fight again. But if my body feels strong after this fight ..."
He stopped himself short of committing to another fight. But if we know anything about Pacquiao, it's that he is still full of surprises.