MP Promotions head Sean Gibbons believes the pressure is on reigning champion Mario Barrios more than on challenger Manny Pacquiao heading to their weekend showdown for the World Boxing Council welterweight crown.
The veteran matchmaker and promoter said it’s up to Barrios to prove the odds right and show he can parlay a 46-year-old boxing icon on a comeback trail from making history by becoming a world champion again.
READ Barrios trainer clears air on ‘hospital or cemetery’ threat to Pacquiao
“That’s what I like, there’s no pressure on Manny. Pressure’s all on Barrios,” said Gibbons two days before the two clash at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
“So Manny’s gonna go out, do what he’s gonna do with hopes that his body will do what (it) needs to be done.”
A one-time light heavyweight fighter, Gibbons, 58, sees the 12-round match having the making of the Pacquiao-Keith Thurman bout six years ago when the Filipino got off to a blazing start behind a first-round knockdown, a statement that dictated the pace of the entire fight, which Pacquiao eventually won by split decision.
Thurman going down served as the difference in the win that made the southpaw Filipino the oldest to win the welterweight crown at 40.
“It could be like the Thurman fight where that (first-round knockdown) changed the whole outlook of the fight,” Gibbons recalled.
And while he has the biggest respect for Barrios and his team, Gibbons still considers the Thurman fight as the tougher one.
“Mario Barrios is there to get hit. So in any moment Manny Pacquiao can turn the lights out like he did with Thurman, (where) he landed a couple of his shots,” he said.
“Mario Barrios is the easier fight than Keith Thurman because he comes to fight. Keith Thurman was a very difficult fight.”
Curiously, Thurman beat Barrios by unanimous decision in a 2022 non-title bout in what served as Thurman’s comeback fight after the loss to Pacquiao.
READ Jimuel no longer fighting in Pacquiao-Barrios undercard. Here’s why
In a way, Gibbons shared the same thought as Pacquiao's Filipino trainer Buboy Fernandez that the fight could be over by the third round.
The MP Promotions head though, said it could even go beyond that.
“So I could (see) Manny ending it in one shot like that. You know, three rounds. I think the first half definitely as everybody here understands, Manny, the first half of the fight is where he has more shot to end it,” added Gibbons.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
