Philippine boxing hero and Senator Manny Pacquiao will defend his World Boxing Association (WBA) World Welterweight title on January 19, 2019.
Pacquiao will go on the ring with Adrien Broner. It will be Pacquiao’s 70th professional contest.
If one were to ask Australian conditioning coach Justine Fortune, Broner has put himself in a tight situation by fighting Pacquiao, according to a report by ABS-CBN.
For one, he said, Broner will have problems taking Pacquiao’s punches. “I don’t think Broner can take Manny’s power,” Fortune said in Joaquin Henson’s article posted on Philboxing.com.“(Marcos) Maidana put Broner down twice and Manny’s punch is way stronger than Madiana’s.”
Another weakness in Broner’s armor, said Fortune, is his lack of foot movement, making him a stationary target.
“Broner’s basically a 1-2 puncher with little foot movement so he’s not hard to hit. He has a tendency to sit in the pocket. He likes to counter so he’ll wait for Manny to come in but he’ll engage,” said the Australian coach.
This is why he sees Pacquiao scoring his second straight knockout win on January 19, according to the ABS-CBN report.
“I’ve always believed that speed and power is devastating and that’s what Manny has. If Manny puts his mind to it, he’ll knock out Broner just like what he did to (Lucas) Matthysse.”
Meanwhile, trainer Freddie Roach has reunited with Pacquiao as the latter prepares for his first title defense
in his current championship reign.
Roach recently explained to ABS-CBN that while he will be in Pacquiao’s corner and help prepare him for the fight, he won’t be the one calling the shots this time.
“That would be Buboy [Fernandez]” Roach said. “Buboy did a good job with Manny in getting him ready for [Lucas] Matthysse and the result was a knockout.”
“I hadn’t talked with Manny since the [Jeff] Horn fight [in July 2017], then we met up two weeks ago when he went to LA for the second stop in the press tour to promote the Broner fight,” Roach said. “We spoke for about 15 minutes. It’s up to Manny how he wants me to be involved with the team. I’m just happy to be back. He’ll be working out at the Wild Card Gym, which is like his home.
I’ll be ready to do whatever Manny wants me to do. It’s not a long training period for Manny, like eight weeks in total. We’re rushing it but Manny will be fine. There’s time to prepare. It won’t be a problem.
And while he isn’t writing off Broner’s skills and abilities, Roach feels the challenger will be no match for Pac-man.
“Manny will kill Broner,” Roach said. “You can bet your house on it. Broner tries to fight like [Floyd] Mayweather but he’s nowhere near the skill level. He even uses the shoulder-roll. Broner’s the type who can make an opponent look bad so Manny can’t take him lightly.”
Writing in the Philippine Star, sports analyst and commentator Joaquin Henson noted that according to conditioning coach Fortune, Pacquiao can’t afford to underestimate Broner when they battle at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in the scheduled 12-round title bout.
Fortune recently arrived in Manila with Pacquiao from Los Angeles.
Pacquiao and his team will leave for General Santos City on December 13 to relocate training camp after the Senate goes on recess.
Pacquiao will celebrate his 40th birthday in General Santos City on December 17. Fortune will then return to Los Angeles on December 19 with Pacquiao following on December 22.
Pacquiao won’t be back in the Philippines until after his fight against Broner, according to Henson.
“From all indications, Pacquiao should steamroll his way to victory over Broner but danger lurks in the horizon because the former WBO superfeatherweight, WBC lightweight, WBA superlightweight and WBA welterweight champion from Cincinnati is no slouch and 10 years younger,” Henson wrote.