Conditioning coach Justin Fortune has been dispatched by trainer Freddie Roach to check on Manny Pacquiao and the Los Angeles-based Australian wasn’t surprised with what he saw the last two days.
“Manny’s always comes to training camp in great shape and that’s what I saw,” Fortune told TEMPO yesterday aftrernoon before presiding over another workout with the Filipino senator getting ready to face Jessie Vargas on Nov. 5 in Las Vegas.
Fortune feels that Vargas is someone not to be taken for granted being the reigning World Boxing Organization welter king.
But Pacquiao and Vargas are still not worthy of being mentioned on the same breath, said Fortune.
“There is Manny Pacquiao and there is Jessie Vargas. Pacquiao is a Triple AAA fighter, while Jessie is just an A fighter.”
“He’s not an elite fighter like Pacquiao, (Juan Manuel) Marquez and (Erik) Morales,” added Fortune, whose first stint as Pacquiao’s strength coach was from 2003 until 2007.