LOS ANGELES — Sean Gibbons thought he had seen it all.
He’s been to all the continents except Antarctica while portraying the role of a fighter, trainer, matchmaker, manager and promoter for almost four decades.
But it was only when he met and got involved with Manny Pacquiao that the Las Vegas-based boxing man told himself that he had finally seen it all.
“He trains harder than any other fighter I have been around in 37 years,” said Gibbons while watching Pacquiao punish himself in training for this Saturday night’s shot at Mario Barrios’ World Boxing Council (WBC) welterweight crown in Las Vegas.
For a man who will be 47 in a few months, Pacquiao continues to make heads turn.
And even though he has been exposed to the eight-division legend’s daily workouts, Gibbons simply could not help but get overwhelmed.
“He’s a winner and winners never second-guess themselves if they’re in shape or not. The guy’s been boxing for 30 years. He’s studied all the different things on how to prepare yourself, how to get ready, what to do. And if one guy is doing 20 rounds, he will go 25.”
What makes the elite fighters like Pacquiao stand out is determination, according to Gibbons, citing that even young fighters like fast-rising middleweight Eumir Marcial, the Tokyo Olympics bronze medalist, could not keep up with Pacquiao.
“Eumir’s in shape and he’s having trouble keeping up with Manny. This guy does a different level of conditioning. They could see at age 46, you don’t cut no corners. He does more than you have to.”
It is for this reason that Gibbons has high hopes for the changing of the guard in the WBC’s 147-pound division.
“This preparation is as good as I saw him in 2019. 2020, 2021. He doesn’t prepare any less for the last three fights and this one may be better. I have never seen a guy this happy.”
And should Pacquiao defy the tremendous odds again, Gibbons believes the International Boxing Hall of Fame in New York, which only last month, formally welcomed Pacquiao as one of its latest inductees, has to step up and come up with something truly special and innovative.
“Beating Mario Barrios, they should re-induct him into the Hall of Fame. Give him the full process that he wasn't able to do this time. It is just another level of being in the Hall of Fame. I think if he wins there is another place, another higher (place) to be put in the Hall of Fame again.”
Meanwhile, Pacquiao is making sure he enters the Barrios showdown armed to the teeth.
In his second to the last workout before the trip to Las Vegas, Pacquiao was craving for more action.
“Once I get the feel of training, the pain and the hardships, I feel the strong urge to want even more,” Pacquiao said.
“If you don’t hold him back, he will keep on training and training,” remarked Marvin Somodio, the Freddie Roach disciple who will assist Buboy Fernandez in the cornerwork on fight night.
No wonder, why he was once labeled by the American boxing media as the Energizer Bunny.