The unbeaten WBC top-ranked junior featherweight contender David Picasso of Mexico has joined the man with the Midas Touch: advisor Sean Gibbons of Knuckleheads Boxing, the COO of Manny Pacquiao’s Promotions.
Immediately, Gibbons told BoxingScene Monday that victories by both Picasso – on the card of Pacquiao’s July 19 return against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios – and undisputed 122lbs champion Naoya Inoue in his September 14 defense against Murodjon “M.J.” Akhmadaliev will create an Inoue-Picasso showdown in December in Saudi Arabia.
Gibbons also represents former champions Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz and Mark Magsayo on the Pacquiao card.
Additionally, Gibbons has directed four other fighters to recent titles or successful defenses, including IBF 130lbs champion Eduardo “Sugar” Nunez, IBF junior-bantamweight champion Willibaldo Garcia, IBF minimumweight champion Pedro Taduran and new WBC interim flyweight champion Francisco Rodriguez.
“I’m very excited to work with David Picasso. I’ve been blessed to work with some of the biggest names in Mexican boxing, and David is close to fighting for the [Inoue belts], and I’m very happy to help him to reach his dream,” Gibbons said.
Gibbons told BoxingScene he’s thankful to Premier Boxing Champions head Al Haymon for placing Picasso, 31-0-1 (17 KOs), on the July 19 card against an opponent to be named soon after another scheduled foe from Japan fell off.
Gibbons’ work in directing more than a dozen Mexican fighters to world titles has allowed him to beef up his stable in recent years, and the streak of recent victories emboldens his push with Picasso.
“Inoue has two guys left to fight that are the best in his division, Akhmadaliev and Picasso,” Gibbons said.
Picasso was in play to be Inoue’s May 4 opponent before negotiations unraveled and four-division champion Inoue 30-0, (27 KOs), proceeded to fight Ramon Cardenas, who scored a knockdown before getting stopped in the eighth round.
The opportunity is coming back around. Ring magazine of its owner and boxing power broker Turki Alalshikh saying “On 27 of December, we are close to finish[ing] Inoue and Picasso as main event.”
“My team and I are very happy to start working with Sean Gibbons. One of my idols is Manny Pacquiao, and being with Sean is the chance to be with Manny,” Picasso said. “I met Sean some years ago, and he was very honest and humble with me. Destiny gives us this opportunity to work together. He will be important in the next steps of my career, and now we are family.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.