Pacquiao back with Justin Fortune to get ready for Bradley

By Boxing News - 02/17/2014 - Comments

pac45454By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao (55-5-2, 38 KO’s) will be helped out with his training by strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune when Pacquiao arrives back in the United States to start working out at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, California. Pacquiao recently let go his valuable S & C coach Alex Ariza, the guy who arguably was responsible for making Pacquiao a success at welterweight.

Ariza lasted 4 years with Pacquiao from 2008 to 2012 before falling out with trainer Freddie Roach led to his dismissal. Now that Ariza is gone, Pacquiao is in need of a new S & C coach, and that’s where Fortune comes in.

Fortune needs to try and get Pacquiao to where he was around the time that he fought Miguel Cotto in 2009. He was at his best during that brief moment, and ever since then, Pacquiao hasn’t looked the same. The strength and fire seem to be gone from his body, and he just looks tired a lot of the time.

Fortune was Pacquiao’s conditioning coach years ago before Ariza took over the job, and he was successful in helping Pacquiao. Of course, Pacquiao was a lot younger back then so his conditioning was less important than it is now. Unfortunately, Pacquiao can no longer go out and overpower the guys that Bob Arum matches him up against from his Top Rank stable, and that’s why conditioning is much more important for him.

Pacquiao was knocking guys out left and right when Fortune was working with him. Pacquiao is now gone through a dry spell in his career where he hasn’t knocked out an opponent in 5 years since his controversial stoppage win over Miguel Cotto in 2009. A lot of boxing fans feel that the Pacquiao-Cotto fight shouldn’t have been halted because Cotto was still fighting back in the 12th round when the referee halted it. If you ignore that fight, then Pacquiao doesn’t have a knockout since his 2nd round TKO win over Ricky Hatton in May of 2009.

Pacquiao can probably beat Bradley no matter who is putting him through his paces. This is a fight that Pacquiao has all the advantages in, and the only way he blows it is by fighting passively like he did in their previous bout in 2012. But for the tougher opponents, Pacquiao is going to need Fortune to help build up his strength and conditioning.

If all Pacquiao is going to be fighting from this point forward are rematches with Bradley and fights against the likes of Mikey Garcia, Brandon Rios, Mike Alvarado and Ruslan Provodnikov, then he should be okay with a special S & C coach. But if he’s going to fight Juan Manuel Marquez again and face some quality guys like Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Keith Thurman, then Pacquiao is going to need a lot of help with getting him back to where he was in 2009.



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