The simple diet and training plan behind Manny Pacquiao’s boxing return at 46 in Las Vegas tonight

A background in combat sports isn’t unheard of in politics.

Current U.S. Congresswoman Sharice Davids and Senator Markwayne Mullin both have MMA experience, while late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was once an accomplished amateur boxer in Nevada. Even Abraham Lincoln earned a reputation as a dangerous wrestler before running for the Illinois House of Representatives in 1832.

Manny Pacquiao, the 46-year-old former senator from the Philippines, is going in the opposite direction.

After suffering defeats in presidential and senatorial elections in 2022 and 2025, respectively, the newly enshrined Boxing Hall of Famer is ending his political career and his four-year boxing retirement to return to the ring on Saturday in Las Vegas. And rather than a few warmup bouts, he is instead diving in on the deep end of the welterweight pool by challenging 30-year-old Mario Barrios – a WBC champion born when the young Pacquiao was already 3-0 as a professional.

‘There’s never going to be another Manny Pacquiao,’ former rival and current PPV.com analyst Chris Algieri told Daily Mail ahead of Saturday’s bout on Prime Video. ‘He is one of one.’

Algieri’s expertise on Pacquiao is almost comprehensive. Not only did he fight PacMan in 2014, dropping a unanimous decision, but the Long Island native has learned even more about the Philippines’ favorite son by covering him as a television analyst. What’s more, Algieri has a master’s degree in clinical nutrition, so it’s no surprise he credits Pacquiao’s stunningly simple diet, in part, for the boxing legend’s success.

TGB Promotions President Tom Brown (C) looks on as Manny Pacquiao (L) and WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios (R) pose during their news conference at MGM Grand

An ex-boxer with a masters degree in nutrition, Algieri is still impressed with Pacquiao’s diet

‘I have a very unique experience with Manny Pacquiao,’ the 41-year-old Algieri said. ‘Obviously, we fought, but you know, I’m a commentator. Now I call fights.’

One such assignment came in 2018, when Algieri covered Pacquiao’s TKO win over Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It was there, Algieri explained, where he discovered Pacquiao stashed up in his hotel room with a bowl of rice, some ground beef and, for dessert, a banana.

‘In [pre-broadcast] fighter meetings, normally the fighters come to you,’ Algieri explained. ‘We went to Manny. We went to his room, and he was finishing up dinner, and he’s sitting there, and he’s eating his food.

‘And I think it’s the simplicity of what he’s done throughout his career,’ Algieri continued. ‘Three times a day and he just sticks to it. It’s basics, it’s protein, it’s carbs, it’s nutrition.’

Don’t let the simplicity of Pacquiao’s diet fool you: He’s not exactly starving himself.

As Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, Justin Fortune, told Yahoo! Sports in 2019, the former eight-division world champion has the metabolism to burn 7,000 calories a day – a necessity for naturally petite fighter hoping to bulk up against larger competitors.

So while other welterweights are starving themselves to clear 147 pounds, Pacquiao typically gorges himself on what Fortune described as ‘clean food’: steak, chicken and beef tinola broth, typically served with white rice or some dried squid.

‘This guy’s a warrior,’ Algieri said. ‘He doesn’t get real heavy between fights. He doesn’t seem like he’s super indulgent. All those things have led to him being almost eternal.’

Pacquiao is pictured dining at a hotel in Manilla in 2004 while enjoying some music 

Pacquiao is seen cheating a bit by eating a Butterfinger bar at  a weigh-in in 2015 

Algieri noticed Pacquiao was more of a boxer and less of a slugger when they fought in 2014

And it’s not only his diet where Pacquiao keeps it simple. 

While training for his 2014 bout against Pacquiao, Algieri filmed a segment with HBO, where producers gave him a small window into his opponent’s camp.

‘When I was training to fight him and HBO came to film my strength and conditioning, they’re like, “Wow, man, you’re doing a lot of new age, really cool stuff.”‘

Pacquiao, they said, was more of a throwback while working with long-time trainer Freddie Roach. 

‘They’re like: “Man, he basically just runs and boxes,”‘ Algieri laughed.

Of course, that was a decade ago. And while Pacquiao insisted with reporters this week that he’s ‘still active in terms of exercise, training,’ physical advantages like speed, strength and durability are naturally waning at age 46.

Furthermore, as Algieri pointed out, Pacquiao ‘isn’t George Foreman’ coming back at 38 in the heavyweight division, where a lumbering slugger can get away with being a bit slower. Instead, Pacquiao is fighting an active welterweight in Barrios, who towers over him by more than six inches and boasts a four-inch reach advantage.

Freddie Roach looks on as Manny Pacquiao cracks a smile during a recent media session 

Were this prime Pacquiao, Algieri explained, it wouldn’t be a problem. 

Pacquiao has enjoyed tremendous success against taller fighters, and has traditionally outpunched even the most active of opponents.

‘The guy that we saw prior to [his 2012 knockout loss to Juan Manuel Marquez], that version of Manny Pacquiao was a demon,’ Algieri said. ‘He was shot out of a cannon. He’s throwing a ton of punches. It volume, it was speed, it was power. You hit him, sure, he’s coming right through it.’

Pacquiao was already evolving by the time he knocked Algieri down six times en route to a unanimous-decision victory in 2014.

‘The version who boxed me fought really well, he fought on the outside quite a bit, he threw volume when he had the opportunity,’ Algieri said, adding Pacquiao ‘was slippery too.’

Publicist Fred Sternburg gives Pacquiao a chair to stand on for his 2014 face-off with Chris Algieri, who said the former Philippines senator usually does well against taller foes

By then, Pacquiao was less concerned with knockouts which is why Algieri admits he ‘didn’t take that much damage’ in the bout. 

In the ensuing years, Pacquiao became ‘more of a boxer’ than a puncher, according to Algieri. In fact, Pacquiao has only one stoppage victory in the last 15 years and is now far more likely to win on the cards as he did in his split-decision upset of Keith Thurman in 2019.

‘The version that beat Thurman was more of this new age Manny, although that fight, he did stand in the pocket a little more, he did let Thurman hit him, which I was surprised, because Thurman could really punch,’ Algieri said. ‘Manny was super impressive that night against Thurman.’

Barrios is the favorite on Saturday, which Algieri concedes, but he’s also watched Pacquiao far too much to write him off completely.

And even if Pacquiao’s recent professional life has been spent in the Philippines’ senate, he still has 30 years of ring experience, and that’s tough to ignore. 

As Algieri sees it, ‘if someone has one more big fight, one more big opportunity in them, one more big performance, it’s Manny Pacquiao.’