FORTUNE SEES A KNOCK-OUT IN PACQUIAO vs MATTHYSSE
By Tonton Alcos-Antogop
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 26 Jun 2018
GENERAL SANTOS CITY - The fight between Manny Pacquiao and Lucas Matthysse will lead to a "knock-out."
That is the bold prediction of Justin Fortune, the Australian strength and conditioning coach of the fighting Filipino senator who is very hands-on to his ward who is now handled by head coach Restituto "Buboy" Fernandez.
Fortune said, either of the boxers could knock each other out, owing to their acquired boxing skills and punching powers.
Per boxrec.com Matthysse, has 82% knock-out accuracy, registering 36 K.O.'s of his 39 victories out of the 44 bouts of his entire career. Pacquiao, has 56% knock-out rate on the other hand, winning 59 of his 68 fights, 38 of them by K.O.'s
"It's pretty well on who executes first. Either way, the fighters could knock each other out," Fortune told this writer inside the Pacman Wildcard Gym last Monday afternoon where Pacquiao had 11 rounds of mitts workout inside the ring with Fernandez (the coach who is the senator's childhood buddy actually just wanted 10 rounds to avoid overtraining but Pacquiao asked for an extra round).
Fortune said they are pretty confident that Pacquiao will emerge as the victor because Pacquiao is in excellent shape.
The Aussie said that Pacquiao is already 80 percent ready for the fight scheduled on July 15 at the Axiata Arena in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
After the mitts session Pacquiao proceeded to hit the speed ball to taper off. He skipped the double-end-bag that day.
HIGH ALTITUDE JOGGING
Fernandez for his part said he is careful that Pacquiao will not over train as earlier that day, they jogged to an approximately 1,000 feet above sea-level mountainous terrain in Seguel, Maasim, Sarangani Province. The site has a majestic view of the Sarangani Bay, the venue of the 1st International Paragliding Accuracy Championship in 2014 and the Opening Leg of the Paragliding Accuracy World Cup in 2015.
Asked on his prediction to the fight, Fernandez refused to categorically say about a knock-out however but he said that once they see the opportunity, Pacquiao will go for the kill.
"Basta ang usapan naming dalawa pag may nakita kaming kunting bukas sa pintuan, kukunin na namin (We both agreed that we will take it once we saw an opening of the window)," adding, he is very pleased with their progression in training, "Sa ipinakita ng ating fighting senator, masaya na ako (With what our fighting senator is showing, I am happy)."
Like Fortune, Fernandez said that Pacquiao is already within 80 percent and by that time they will depart for the fight, the challenger of the World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight championship will wrest the crown from the Argentinian boxer.
A LA FOREMAN WIN
He likened the chances of Pacquiao to ex-heavyweight champion George Foreman who became champion again at a very late age.
Foreman, like Pacquiao, became deeply religious and even became an ordained Christian minister before he decided to return to boxing after 10 years of inactivity. He became world boxing champion again at age 45 in 1994. (Per records however, the feat of Foreman was broken by Bernard Hopkins in 2011, at 46, where he won against Jean Pascal for the World Boxing Council (WBC) light heavyweight boxing title).
"George Foreman nga, nag-champion uli, tayo pa kaya, (George Foreman, he became champion again, we also could), Fernandez declared. Pacquiao is 39 years old as against Matthysse who is just 35.
Aside from Fernandez and Fortune, the training staff of Pacquiao also included, Raides " Nonoy" Neri, Nonito "Dodong" Donaire, Sr., the Penalosa brothers, Dodie Boy and Jonathan and Roger "Haplas" Fernandez, the younger brother of Restituto.
Photo: Pacquiao with conditioning coach Justin Fortune.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Tonton Alcos-Antogop.
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