Two weeks before the boxing world grinds to a screeching halt, Manny Pacquiao had just reached the summit of his buildup for Mario Barrios with the highly-discriminating American boxing man Sean Gibbons sticking his neck out for the Filipino icon.
“Going strong,” Gibbons told DAILY TRIBUNE on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) after watching Pacquiao rack up another tough grind at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood.
Pacquiao, 46, is slated to challenge Barrios, 30, for the World Boxing Council welterweight crown on 19 July at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Despite the age difference, Pacquiao and his team are upbeat about their chances of rewriting history again by breaking his record of being the oldest world 147-pound champion and becoming one of the oldest to win a world title.
Odds are stacked against Pacquiao, who will be coming out of retirement after being inactive for almost four years.
He was forced to retire in October 2021 just weeks after losing to Yordenis Ugas to concentrate on politics and could not resist the urge to return because he utterly misses boxing.
Barrios, who towers at six-feet, is the heavy favorite mainly because of two things: Pacquiao’s age and long layoff.
But even Barrios’ lead trainer Bob Santos swears that a long rest sometimes work wonders for a fighter, citing how his fighter James Toney managed to come back after a layoff.
However, Keith Thurman, who fought both Pacquiao and Barrios, points out that it doesn’t look as if that’s going to work for the newest inductee to the Hall of Fame.
“To me, Pacquiao doesn’t look the same with long breaks,” Thurman told fighthype, noting how Pacquiao fared badly against the last-minute Ugas since the fight took place after Covid.
Thurman lost on a split decision to Pacquiao in 2019 but he beat Barrios in 2022.
“He was not coming out of Covid when he fought me,” Thurman said, adding that Pacquiao was in fighting mode, having defeated Lucas Matthysse and Adrian Broner.
While he is not ruling out an upset win, Thurman believes that the “safe bet” will be a wager on Barrios.
For Thurman, the only way Pacquiao’s going to win is if he can turn back the hands of time again.
And Thurman feels if Pacquiao gets the job done, it will be by way of a knockout.