Then, after receiving just six percent of the vote to badly lose a 2022 presidential election in his native country, Pacquiao returned to boxing last summer in an ill-advised exhibition bout at 160 pounds against Rukiya Anpo that saw a visibly out-of-shape Pacquiao struggle to keep the much bigger 28-year-old kickboxer off of him.

Meeting Manny Pacquiao for an interview in downtown Dubai in January 2025, the first thing you noticed was how trim he looked, as though he could eat breakfast and make the welterweight limit there and then.