Manny Pacquiao flexes his muscles after training. —MARK GIONGCO
HOLLYWOOD—With five days to go before fight night, the plan was a light workout on the final day of camp in Los Angeles before heading to Las Vegas.
Manny Pacquiao didn’t get the memo.
He was in his usual jovial yet no-nonsense mood, beaming and grinning as he pounded the mitts with longtime trainer and childhood friend Buboy Fernandez.
Strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune, wary of potential burnout and risk of injury with Saturday’s title showdown against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios just around the corner, initially wanted four rounds of mitts that turned into six.
“One more,” Pacquiao pleaded. “One more.”
Fortune had to take off the mitts from Fernandez’s hands just to prove his point.
‘Don’t worry’
Even then, Pacquiao hit the heavy bag with power punches and kept going despite Fortune and coach Marvin Somodio telling him not to.
“Focus on your hand speed, not power,” Somodio said.
“Bam! Bam! Bam!” Pacquiao proceeded to bludgeon the bag with combinations.
The convoy bound for Sin City was scheduled to leave at 3 p.m. Training wrapped up close to 4 p.m. when Pacquiao decided to end it.
“My concern is he could overtrain ahead of the fight,” Fortune said of his 46-year-old ward.
Drenched in sweat, Pacquiao took off his shirt and flexed his muscles.
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“Don’t worry about [it],” he said. INQ
