MP Promotions chief Sean Gibbons was visibly pleased yesterday (Wednesday in the US) by what he saw during Manny Pacquiao’s public workout in Los Angeles for his comeback fight against American World Boxing Council welterweight king Mario Barrios on July 19 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
“We’ve seen vintage Manny Pacquiao – training, sparring, preparation,” Gibbons was quoted by veteran ring writer Lance Pugmire of boxingscene.com as saying as the popular Pinoy ring icon held a media day at the Wild Card Gym of famed American trainer Freddie Roach.
“He’s (Pacquiao) turned the corner. He’s been getting fit and ready for this big push for now – we’re going to spar 8, 10 and 12 rounds starting today,” Gibbons said of Pacquiao’s buildup to his ring return after a four-year absence.
Pacquiao himself was generally satisfied with his preparations, saying: “I’m happy with these first 30 days I’ve been in L.A. We’ve reached the level we wanted to accomplish.
“Right now – (through) this weekend and next – we’re in heavy training. Then, we’ll wind down.”
The 46-year-old former eight-division world champion stressed that he would be in the best shape of his life in battling the younger and taller Barrios, 30, who has insisted he won’t be yielding his crown to his celebrated rival.
“Most fighters come back at like 50-60 percent condition just to come back. I don’t want that. I want 100 percent,” Pacquiao said.
To underscore that he was fit as a fiddle, the Pinoy fighter “sought to showcase that for the cameras arranged along the ring, hammering his mitt man’s pads, flashing his signature hand-and-foot speed and smiling nearly throughout,” the writer reported.
Gibbons said that on July 19 (July 20 in Manila), Pacquiao would be able to answer his critics convincingly who consider him too old to enter the ring anew against “El Azteca.”
“Fight night’s fight night. That’s the big unknown everyone is coming to see. Does he still have it? I compare Tom Brady a lot to Manny – the way they’ve aged, how they take care of themselves. The number may be 46, but the body’s in its 20s,” said Gibbons in likening Pacquiao to the American seven-time Super Bowl champion.
Waxing sentimental about the Filipino bet’s latest – and perhaps final – stab at ring glory at the MGM Grand Arena, Pugmire wrote: “There have been so many epic triumphs for record eight-division champion Pacquiao at that venue, and if he wins here again, weeks after being inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, a case for labeling him as the greatest fighter of all time could be debated.”
The charismatic Filipino sports star could only smile and reply “that’s not for me to decide, that’s for the fans. I don’t want to raise my own chair.”
