By Nick Giongco
The camp of Adrien Broner swears it has Manny Pacquiao all figured out.
In fact, Kevin Cunningham, chief trainer of Broner, insists Pacquiao won’t be showing off something they’ve never seen when the two lock horns on Jan. 19 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
“We have an idea of the way the fight is going to go. We’ve studied tons of Pacquiao footage and he pretty much fights the same every fight. Manny’s a rhythm fighter so it’s all about getting in his rhythm. He pretty much does his thing. But outside of that I’ve never really seen him make too many adjustments. He’s pretty much the same guy,” Cunningham said during Broner’s open workout Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) at the Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach, Florida.
Broner is challenging Pacquiao, who will be making the first defense of the World Boxing Association welterweight title for the first time since beating up Argentine mauler Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur.
Cunningham, who holds camp at West Palm Beach, believes Broner is the one displaying new stuff on fight night.
“I think he’s having even a better camp than the last. He’s added a new strength and conditioning coach and everything is working out perfect and camp is going extremely well and smooth. AB’s looking fast and explosive. I have no complaints,” said Cunningham, a former police officer.
“Adrien’s got everything; he’s a real throwback fighter. He’s got speed, he’s got power, he’s got quickness, he’s got footwork. He can punch and he can bang and he can box. He’s got skills and he can be slick if he wants to be. So he’s the total package,” he added.
Over at Pacquiao’s camp in General Santos City, everything is also on the right track.
After celebrating his 40th birthday in style last Monday, Pacquiao eased back into training mode and sparred heavily as he gets ready to fly to the US on Saturday night to kick off the final four weeks of preparation.
