Fortune: Manny Pacquiao very strong, very fast at 150 pounds

By Raj Parmar - 04/23/2015 - Comments

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By Raj Parmar: Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune has a plan to get Manny in his ultimate fighting form on May 2 against the unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. He believes that having Manny weight 150 pounds on fight night will allow Manny to box with a combination of maximum speed and power.

“Very fast, very strong,” is what Fortune stated per sports.inquirer.net regarding why 150 pounds is Manny’s best fighting weight.

The plan would be to have Manny weigh in at about 146.5 pounds at Friday’s official weigh-in then climb to 150 pounds by fight night. In recent memory, Manny weighed as high as 148 pounds when he fought Antonio Margarito for a super welterweight title. In that fight Manny severely restructured Margarito’s face and caused him permanent facial damage.

Floyd is naturally the bigger man against Manny and it is estimated that he will rehydrate up to as high as 160 pounds by fight night in order to underline his height and weight advantage over the “Pacman”. Although Margarito weighed 164 pounds when Manny crushed him in the ring, Floyd is much quicker and elegant on his feet than the plodding Margarito. Mayweather’s combination of size, strength and speed present a very difficult challenge for the smaller Pacquiao.

Manny’s head trainer Freddie Roach has been emphasizing the power of Manny’s punches in camp and has stated many times to the media that he is getting hurt regularly when working mitts with Manny. There is no doubt that Manny is extra focused for this once in a lifetime fight and his camp is doing all they can to ensure Manny shows the same dominant form on May 2 that he showed in his career defining bouts against Oscar De La Hoya, Miguel Cotto and Margarito; and according to Fortune weighing 150 pounds when Pacquiao steps into the ring is a major key to victory.

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