Bob Arum appreciates more than most what it’s like to be told he’s too old to do something.

At 93, the Hall-of-Fame promoter still goes to Top Rank’s headquarters in Las Vegas most days and plays a reasonably active role in the company’s operations. Arum also has a very personal connection to Manny Pacquiao because Top Rank did such successful business with the Filipino legend for so long.

It’s not the least bit surprising therefore that Arum appreciated Pacquiao’s performance in his 12-round majority draw with WBC welterweight champ Mario Barrios last Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Pacquiao awed Arum on many occasions over the years, yet that wasn’t a reaction he anticipated when the eight-division champion announced his comeback a few months ago. Though half Arum’s age, Pacquiao (62-8-3, 39 KOs) was considered entirely too old and inactive to compete with a championship-caliber opponent.

Pacquiao, 46, is 16 years older than Barrios (29-2-2, 18 KOs), of San Antonio, Texas, and hadn’t fought in almost four years, not since his 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Yordenis Ugas in August 2021 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. You wouldn’t have known it, according to Arum, who watched their fight from his home.

“I was very surprised,” Arum told The Ring. “I thought it was remarkable. He looked like, truth be told, the fresher fighter in the ring. The other guy, the only thing he showed was a very good jab. He didn’t show anything else. But Manny showed a lot of activity, jumping around and everything, and he looked like a fresh fighter. He didn’t look like a 46-year-old guy who hasn’t fought in four years.”

Judge Max De Luca scored Barrios a 115-113 winner. Tim Cheatham and Steve Weisfeld scored their 147-pound championship clash a draw, 114-114 apiece.

Cheatham (87-84), De Luca (86-85) and Weisfeld (87-84) all had Pacquiao ahead entering the 10th round. Each judge scored the 10th, 11th and 12th rounds for Barrios, as did Arum.

“I thought Manny, for a 46-year-old guy, did really well,” Arum said. “And I think that it was a very close fight. And obviously, many people, maybe most people who watched it, were rooting for Manny, rooting for the old guy. But when you look at the fight and you examine the fight, it was close. I had Manny winning six rounds to three after the first nine rounds.

“And then I agreed with the judges that he lost the last three rounds. When the fight was over, I said it was probably a draw. But I could see the first nine rounds being 6-3. I could see it being 5-4, like one judge had it, and I could see it being 7-2. It looked like it was Manny’s fight going into the last three rounds.”