Fortune: Pacquiao in better shape than he was for Bradley

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune is so far impressed with the Filipino icon’s shape with still over a month left of training for his fight with Jessie Vargas.

Pacquiao, Fortune said, is in even better condition today than he was while training for Timothy Bradley last April.

"I've been on the job for only a week, but this I can tell you, Manny has improved a lot since we last worked together last April for the Timothy Bradley fight," the Australian conditioning guru recently told Eddie Alinea of PhilBoxing.com.

Pacquiao looked great in defeating Bradley, knocking him down twice en route to a unanimous decision win. On November 5, he will challenge Vargas – interestingly a Bradley victim – for the WBO welterweight title.

Fortune, meanwhile, is in Manila to supervise Pacquiao’s workouts at a gym in Pasay City. And he loves what he sees so far.

"He [Pacquiao]'s lot stronger now and faster," he said. – Dino Maragay