Fortune: Fight won’t last distance
LOS ANGELES – Adrien Broner will end up in three ways, according to Australian conditioning coach Justin Fortune next week in Las Vegas after taking on Manny Pacquiao.
The most likely scenario would be Broner quitting on his stool after determining that it will be futile to take additional punishment from Pacquiao, who will be risking his World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight crown for the first time on Jan. 19 at the MGM Grand.
Another possible ending would be the referee stepping in and the third would be Broner turning his back.
“To take those punishments, those hits. Manny’s ridiculously strong and fast. I just don’t see Broner taking that beating,” said Fortune, who feels that Broner might follow the path taken by Lucas Matthysse in July last year in Malaysia.
In that fight, Pacquiao conducted a punching clinic that the Argentine fell three times before deciding that it would be foolish and downright stupid to get up.
“You’ve seen the result of Manny’s fights. They are all beat up win or lose. They are a mess,” said Fortune.
While Broner is a also a multi-division titleholder like the 40-year-old Pacquiao, who has won an unprecedented eight, the Filipino is a couple of levels above him.
“Fighting Pacquiao and taking those sort of shots. It’s different. It’s a hell of a beating to take,” he added.
Even Freddie Roach, who has decided to allow longtime assistant Buboy Fernandez to call the shots during the fight, believes the 29-year-old Broner will not get the opportunity to hear the final bell.
“The killer instinct is back,” exclaimed Roach, admitting that he was thrilled that it was Pacquiao himself who told him that he is craving for a knockout victory.