Bo Gibbs Jr. has always been around boxing. His father boxed when he was a kid, and Gibbs said he passed that love on to all his kids. His dad influenced him, but there was so much more that drew him to the sport.
“The thing is with boxing, it’s just something about being able to hear and not be heard,” he said. “They’re trying to knock you out, but you know, they can’t get to you. They can’t, like, glove on you, but you can hit them and just hit and not be hit. That’s what the whole sport’s about. That’s a pretty good feeling.”
After 13 years of plugging away as a pro boxer and a year and a half out of the ring, Gibbs finally hit a major milestone by winning the World Professional Boxing Federation (WPBF) Super Middleweight World Championship Title, beating out Brandon Baeu by seven-round TKO on Nov. 9 at Firelake Arena.
The WPBF is an international sanctioning body for professional boxing matches founded in 1989.
Gibbs found out about the fight 12 weeks ago and worked hard, training twice a day, six days a week.
“I won that fight in the gym with all the hard work and preparation,” the 33-year-old boxer said.
He grew up in Carney, and though he moved away for a time, he’s been back in the small town since 2010. But boxing has always been his dream. He had his first amateur fight when he was 14 and went pro when he was 20.
Gibbs said he always looked up to Evander Holyfield and Mike Tysons. One of his earliest memories is being woken up by everyone in his living room going wild over Tyson biting Holyfield.
“That was one of my youngest memories, but it’s always been, I’ve always loved it, and it’s been a passion of mine,” he said.
His goal is to be a major world champion, and he’s pushed for it his whole life. There are four major world titles: the WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF. Gibbs said he’s started training already and hopes to be back in the ring by springtime. He plans to keep moving forward and fight someone higher ranked so he can move closer to his goals.
Gibbs said he typically gives himself a week of preparation for each round of a fight. With most being 12 rounds, he does 12 weeks of hard training. The body goes through a lot during that time, he added, because of sparring, which can be tough. Part of training is allowing the body time to heal and recover, too.
But it’s worth it to win and keep jumping in the rankings. Since Gibbs took a year and a half off, he was out of rankings. Now that he’s back on the board - 66 out of 250, he believes - he needs to keep winning so he can keep rising and get closer to one of those championships.
“If I get a top 10, then I’m bound to get a world title fight,” he said.
Gibbs said he would like to get in the ring with anyone currently ranked in the top 10 or any of the current world champions.
“I know that I have to pay my dues first to jump my way up in the rankings, right? But that’s the plan,” he said. “I’m gonna be on the dance floor to compete with those guys.”