Justin Fortune says Pacquiao to go thru shorter workouts

MANILA, Philippines — To make sure Manny Pacquiao doesn’t burn himself out in training, strength coach Justin Fortune has laid out a program that will keep the Filipino workhorse on hold.

Fortune said in this camp, Pacquiao is on a bundy clock.

“It’s different now,” said Fortune, just two months before Pacquiao challenges Lucas Matthysse for the WBA welterweight crown in Kuala Lumpur.

“It’s also better coming to the gym knowing that you’ll be there for like an hour and a half, and not three or four. Get in, bang-bang, get out,” Fortune told The STAR.

Pacquiao is fighting on a 39-year-old body.

“We fight for 45 minutes (including breaks) so there’s no point training for four hours a day. It doesn’t work that way now. When you’re 23 or 24 then go for it,” said Fortune.

The ex-heavyweight contender admitted last week that Pacquiao overtrained to some extent as he prepared for the fight against Jeff Horn in July last year.

It’s not anybody’s fault, according to Fortune. It’s just that everybody is so used to seeing Pacquiao log in countless minutes when he trains for a fight.

Even Freddie Roach had difficulty pulling him back in training.

“We’re doing shorter workouts now. No more than three hours. This time it’s an hour or an hour and fifteen,” said Fortune.

Mitts sessions, said head trainer Buboy Fernandez, will be limited to a maximum of eight rounds. Even the number of sparring rounds will be held to a minimum.

Fernandez said he’d seen Pacquiao pound the mitts for 17 rounds almost non-stop. This time, he said even Pacquiao’s money can’t buy him an extra round.

“Maximum of eight,” said Fernandez.

In training, minutes are counted in threes, and when he skips the ropes or shadow boxes or pounds the heavy bag or the speed ball, they are measured in three-minute rounds.