How Giovanni Cabrera Landed at the Wild Card, Sparred Manny Pacquiao

Lightweight Giovanni Cabrera is one of the bright young talents out of Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing club. However, three years ago he was an inactive fighter who had fired his longtime trainers and managers. Although he had defeated several undefeated prospects during his rise, Cabrera was given his big break by Roach and Manny Pacquiao.

Cabrera is set to fight William Zepeda on July 6 at the Toyota Arena in Ontario, California.

During the pandemic, Cabrera (22-1, 7 KOs) was struggling. He had parted ways with his longtime trainer, Johnny Nocita, and manager, Sam Ditusa. Although he refused to give up, he didn’t know what to do. His lack of activity had moved him out of the world rankings in his division. An unexpected encounter while looking for an apartment in Chicago changed his life.

“I moved to the South Side of Chicago, and the property manager said he knew Freddie Roach and said, ‘Kid, I’m going to help you set up a meeting,’” said Cabrera, 29. “So I drove to Las Vegas to meet with his uncle, Chuck Cameron, one of Freddie’s longtime friends, who had given him a job in the ‘80s while Freddie was boxing.

“I packed up all my stuff into my car, drove to Las Vegas, hoping to impress this guy so he would set up a meeting with Freddie.”

They went to dinner at the ARIA Resort & Casino, and the meeting went well. After dinner, it was decided that Cabrera would meet Roach.

“I showed up to the gym the next day – I think it was July 18, the day before my birthday,” Cabrera said. “Manny Pacquiao had just arrived for his last fight, against Errol Spence [who was replaced by Yordenis Ugas], as I was pulling up to the gym. He was leaving. I was like, ‘Oh, that was pretty cool, you know?’”

Roach addressed him as “the Chicago kid” when he walked into the gym. After a brief introduction, they got down to business. Cabrera shared details of his undefeated record, achievements as a Chicago Golden Gloves champion and bronze medal at the National Olympic tournament in Mexico.

“He didn’t really look impressed,” Cabrera recalled. “He said, ‘Well, if you’re good, you can stay. We’ll see what happens.’”

Two days later, Cabrera found out. Coming off a lengthy layoff, standing in one of the most famous boxing gyms in the world, he got some big news.

“‘Hey, Gio, Manny Pacquiao wants to meet you,’” Cabrera says Roach told him. “‘Maybe if he likes you, you could spar him on Saturday.’ Five minutes before Manny Pacquiao arrived, he said, ‘Hey, Pacquiao just fired both of his sparring partners. He wants to go six rounds with you right now,’ which was exciting and equally terrifying.

“I had been inactive for a year, then the pandemic, and here I am facing an icon.”

It’s important to note that Cabrera was also battling a bit of inner fandom. He was getting the opportunity of a lifetime against someone who had been a deep inspiration.

“One of the reasons I got into boxing was Manny Pacquiao,” Cabrera said. “It was like a frickin’ movie scene. It was unreal. I was scared as hell, my reflexes were running at 100 percent, and I gave him good work.

“He hired me to become a sparring partner for the rest of the camp,” Cabrera said. “That really gave me my start. When I got down from the ring that day, Freddie said, ‘Well, I knew two things were going to happen: either you were good, like you said you were, or you were probably going to get knocked out.’”

Cabrera hasn’t been shy about making claims about just how good he is during the build-up to his upcoming fight against Zepeda. His trial by fire, both the early stage of his pro career and his earning acceptance at the Wild Card, hardened the young fighter in ways he could never have seen coming.

“So,” Cabrera said, “that’s how I got my start with Freddie.”