IMAGO / ZUMA Press Wire

'Sugar' Shane Mosley Gives Manny Pacquiao Blunt Advice About Boxing At 46

Originally posted on KO on SI | By Grant Young | Last updated Jun 17, 2025 8:20 PM ET

Next month, Manny Pacquiao will be fighting against Mario Barrios for Barrios' WBC welterweight belt. Pacquiao will be 46 years old during this bout, which is obviously an advanced age for any professional athlete, let alone a combat sports practitioner who is putting their life on the line any time they enter the ring.

One former boxing icon who knows what fighting in their mid-forties feels like is "Sugar" Shane Mosley, as his last professional fight came against David Avanesyan in 2016, when Mosley was 44 years old. Therefore, Mosley's sentiment about how Pacquiao will fare against Barrios is exceedingly valuable.

10. Shane Mosley against David Avanesyan

Shane Mosley, at the age of 44, fought David Avanesyan because Mosley was attempting to earn a mandatory shot at the winner of the WBA welterweight title between Keith Thurman and Shawn Porter. Avanesyan was the holder of the WBA Interim… pic.twitter.com/mWRV2EkyC3
— ron Goodall (@FightHypeRonG) May 9, 2025

Mosley has been present at Pacquiao's training camp over the past several days. And at one point, he offered clear advice for Pacquiao about fighting at 46 years old.

"We're not 20 or whatever years old, so you've got to give your body time to rest," Mosley said when asked about giving Pacquiao advice, per a YouTube video from FightHype. "Working hard, like I like to do, like I know [Pacquiao] likes to do, sometimes we don't want to rest. And then doing that, that can harm you.

"So you have to give yourself time to recover. And that's the big issue when you get older," Mosley added. He later said, "You have to think about the recovery time now... If he spaces everything out the right way, which it looks like he is, and does things the way he's supposed to, he'll be all right. He'll be fine."

Regardless of how Pacquiao fares against Barrios on July 19, it's cool to see Mosley in his corner right now, given that these two icons fought each other on May 7, 2011, for the WBO welterweight championship, in a bout that Pacquiao won via a unanimous decision.

This article first appeared on KO on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: