Rocky Balboa is a fake and still one of the most important figures in the history of his sport, of cinema, and Americana.

To fight his final fight, in the 2006 film “Rocky Balboa,” Rocky had to lobby for a license to a boxing commission that didn’t want him to return to the ring because of his age. In the film, Rocky says, “It ain’t nobody’s right to say ‘no’ after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do.”

Rocky is ultimately allowed to return to the ring, where he exchanges hammering blows with Mason “The Line” Dixon (Antonio Tarver); the Italian Stallion takes the loss, but he goes the distance. Rocky’s legacy isn’t that he’s a champion, but he always gets up to keep fighting.

Twenty years later, life will imitate art when one of the best fighters in the history of boxing will enter the ring at the age of 46. Manny Pacquiao will fight Mario Barrios for the WBC welterweight championship belt on Saturday, July 19, in Las Vegas. You can find the fight on PPV.com; no subscription is required.

This is not Hollywood. Punches aren’t pulled. Low blows happen, and the 1-2-3 combinations that land aren’t the result of clever editing, and blocking in front of a camera.

These things can hurt, and kill.

Pacquiao should have retired at least seven years ago, but he has earned the right to do what he wants. (Also, there is money to be made but that’s not important right now.)

“When I first heard about this, I had much the same thoughts that many of us in the sport had, ‘Oh, man, that’s a scary proposition,’ ’’ retired fighter Chris Algieri said in a phone interview; Algieri will serve as an analyst for the telecast. “But then I thought about it, and I’ve been in the ring with the guy.

“I’m a boxing fan first and, being nostalgic, it’s Manny. If anyone can beat Father Time one more night, it’s Manny. Knowing him personally, the man is a warrior. So I am not surprised he’s doing this.”

Pacquiao defeated Algieri in 2014, the lead-in to Manny’s snooze-fight loss to Floyd Mayweather.

Sports is loaded with examples of older guys who come back because they need the money. Because they don’t know what else to do. Because they love it. Because it’s their identity. Because it gives them a reason to get out of bed.

Some of boxing’s best have come back long after both the wise, and stupid, man say, “Hang ‘em up.”

“I fought late into my 30s, which I don’t recommend. It’s really tough,” Algieri said. “There are young, hungry guys out there. I knew at 38 my body wasn’t the same as it was at 28. ... Aging brains don’t take damage well. As you get older, your resistance goes down and down. From that standpoint, this fight does worry me.”

Manny now is a part of a list great fighters who couldn’t quit. Guys who came back for “one more fight,” which ultimately was a nasty jab to their legacies.

Muhammad Ali kept coming back to the point where it looked like elderly abuse. Sugar Ray Leonard famously came back only to get crushed by a young Terry Norris. Roy Jones' last fight was 2023, when he was in his 50s.

Manny’s return is not Mike Tyson coming back to “fight” Jake Paul, or some check-cashing scheme.

Manny’s fights are legit, and he’s fighting young, hungry men who want the money. The fame. The belt. They want not only to beat Manny, but to be Manny.

The Manny they watched 10 years ago. Not this Manny.

Like his previous four fights since 2021, this one is also a terrible idea, but there is something moving to see a guy who knows he needs to quit keep doing what he loves. Because if he stops, the part of himself that he loves unconditionally will die, even if it kills him.

“Boxing is the highest highs and lowest lows; all of us are some kind of addicts for that,” Algieri said. “It’s dark. Floyd Patterson said it best: ‘Boxing is the terrible girlfriend you can’t give up. She is mean. She is nasty. She will take everything from you but you keep coming back.’ ”

Manny Pacquiao should not be fighting again, but he keeps coming back for reasons that only he knows.

The callus cynic says he needs the money.

The idealist romantic who can look past the brain damage that boxing so easily causes says maybe he just can’t give up what gave him a life that he could never have imagined when he was a poor kid growing up in the Philippines.

The realist says the man has earned the right to be where he wants to be, and to do what he wants to do.

Manny Pacquiao fighting again is both sad yet inspiring because this isn’t Hollywood. And when these punches land they can hurt.

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