Pacquiao mesmerizes audience

If you were just outside and not seeing who was banging the heavy bag and pounding the mitts, you’d think a young lion was working out at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood the past two weeks.

But instead of a twenty-something and unbeaten prospect, the man training is a guy in his mid-40s.

Not just some dude.

Manny Pacquiao is neck-deep in training for his bold bid to beat Mario Barrios and take away his World Boxing Council welterweight crown on 19 July at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

“You’d be surprised that the guy right before your eyes is 46 (years old). But he just doesn’t look 46 at all,” said American dealmaker Sean Gibbons, who is a familiar face during Pacquiao’s afternoon sessions on that same sweat shop on Vine Street he first showed up in almost quarter of a century ago.

As to how he would respond once Barrios, 30, starts hitting back is a major concern given that the eight-division legend hasn’t fought in almost four years.

But from what Pacquiao has been displaying the last two weeks, from the flats of Los Angeles and up the hills of Hollywood, everyone’s buzzing with excitement.

In fact, the much-awaited sparring sessions — the most crucial stage of a buildup — is happening very soon.

Gibbons added that he, Freddie Roach and his able assistant Marvin Somodio, have been tapped to scout for sparmates.

But these workouts are taking place probably soon after Pacquiao returns from his short trip to New York to attend his induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHoF) in Canastota.

The IBHoF is presiding over Pacquiao’s induction on 8 June, making the Filipino icon the fourth Filipino to be enshrined after boxers Pancho Villa and Flash Elorde and promoter Lope Sarreal Sr.