Ex-Manny Pacquiao rival urges him to retire as he makes shock claim about comeback fight

Manny Pacquiao’s former foe was not impressed by his return to the ring after a four-year absence

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Manny Pacquiao’s old rival Tim Bradley has called for him to head back into retirement after insisting his “time is up” following his comeback fight against Mario Barrios last weekend.

Pacquiao returned from a four-year absence to hold Barrios to a majority draw in their WBC welterweight title fight as he almost became a world champion again at 46.

However, Bradley, who faced Pacquiao three times between 2012 and 2016, was not particularly impressed and has made a shock claim that Barrios went easy on the Filipino legend.

Speaking on his own YouTube channel, Bradley said: “I’m going to keep it real, Manny Pacquiao’s time has been up. You know the fact that he’s a special type of athlete, he’s a legend, he’s able to get in there with Mario Barrios who basically somewhat carried this guy, man, he carried Manny Pacquiao.

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PACQUIAO-BARRIOS (AP)

“I don’t care what anybody say, he carried him. Yes, all he had to do was step on the gas especially in the middle, the back end of the fight where he’s the younger fighter.

“He has more energy, he could have gave more effort because obviously he got hit with some straight left hands and he was able to take it but it didn’t seem like he wanted to.”

Bradley holds a controversial win over Pacquiao, having beaten him via split decision 13 years ago.

But Pacquiao outpointed him in the next two meetings to edge their rivalry. Bradley’s second defeat by Pacquiao was his last professional fight as he retired a two weight-world champion with 33 wins from 37 bouts.

Pacquiao has now had 73 fights and has no intention of stopping yet, despite Bradley’s comments.

He has welcomed a rematch with Floyd Mayweather, while Ryan Garcia and WBA welterweight titlist Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero have also thrown their names into the mix to take on ‘Pac Man’ next.

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