Manny Pacquiao relaxed, happier during training – Fortune

MANILA, Philippines — In training, Australian strength and conditioning expert Justin Fortune wants to “make life easy” on the 39-year-old Manny Pacquiao.

“Now, he’s got to use his experience and his power. And make life easy,” Fortune told The STAR.

Pacquiao has moved camp to General Santos City since the Senate goes on a long break starting today until July 22.

It’s most likely that Pacquiao will stay in his home province until the day he leaves for Kuala Lumpur to fight Lucas Matthysse on July 15.

Fortune said early plans suggest that Pacquiao will board a chartered flight to the football-crazy nation a week before the fight.

For the meantime, training goes on – in the morning and in the afternoon. At night, there’s the occasional basketball game.

“He still has a lot of speed, like a lot,” said Fortune, in the country for over two weeks now.

“This camp is more like six to seven weeks max of intense training. Four weeks of sparring and then the last three weeks will be like warming up and running,” said Fortune.

Buboy Fernandez, now the head trainer, is on the same page, saying one thing they want to make sure of is that Pacquiao does not overtrain for the very crucial fight against the Argentine.

“As long as he’s relaxed and happy, then there’s no problem,” said Fortune during a recent workout.

Pacquiao seems to be enjoying shorter time at the gym. Sessions that used to stretch three hours are now limited to a maximum of two.

Even the number of sparring rounds will be reduced.

“Manny already has so much experience. Right now, he’s in the right frame of mind. He’s happy and he’s fresh,” said the strength coach.