By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
A week after losing in the senatorial race in the Philippines, boxing’s living legend Manny Pacquiao redirected his focus to his upcoming blockbuster fight against Mario Barrios and began his training camp at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, USA.
Pacquiao uploaded his first day of training at the Wild Card Gym on his official YouTube account on May 20, 2025. There, familiar faces surrounded the sport’s only eight-division world champion who also featured a reunion with his longtime mentor Freddie Roach.
Also present on his first day back was his son, Jimuel, who is currently based in the US to pursue his dreams of being a professional boxer.
Arriving with Pacquiao is MP Promotions president Sean Gibbons, assistant coach Buboy Fernandez, and personal assistant David Sison.
Midway through the uploaded video clip, Mark Magsayo, the former World Boxing Council (WBC) featherweight champion, was also seen taking notes of Pacquiao’s training regimen.
Pacquiao did a rundown of his footwork patterns in the beginning, followed by a mitt hitting training with Roach. At the end of the video, the successful fighter-coach duo was seen planning situational counterpunching measures whenever he was pinned in the ropes.
In his previous fights, Barrios showed vast improvement in his head movement and patience, a far better approach to what he was used to doing when he fought Gervonta Davis four years ago.
Barrios started off as a brawler, a type of fighter to press the action and put pressure on the opposition, but evolved into a great counterpuncher that made him even more efficient as a multi-dimensional boxer.
Now it is up for Roach and his camp to devise the perfect game plan against the younger and bigger Barrios. Pacquiao has been in numerous situations where he fought and battered the more physically imposing boxers, such as Antonio Margarito, Miguel Cotto, Ricky Hatton, and Joshua Clottey.
According to a report by The Ring, Pacquiao followed his usual training routine in the US and first visited the local park in the Fairfax District to do light cardio workouts.
The 46-year-old superstar will only have two months left to prepare before squaring off against Barrios on July 19, 2025, to be held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
