Fortune is Satisfied With Pacquiao's Progress in Camp

By Steve Kim

Justine Fortune believes that with approximately five weeks to go before Manny Pacquiao faces Floyd Mayweather, his man his where he needs to be.

"Yeah, I would say he's there physically, "he said of the Filipino superstar, who got in his early morning work at Drake Stadium at UCLA on Friday.

"With Mayweather, he's excited about this fight, motivated like we've never seen before. He was probably this motivated when he was making a name for himself against (Erik)Morales, with ( Juan Manuel)Marquez and stuff like that. Now because he wants to set his legacy. Yeah, he's where we want to be."

On this day, Pacquiao ran two-and-a-half miles around the track and then did a series of drills on the stadium bleachers before finishing up with a series of abdominal exercises and stretches. It was all done in front of a rather large gathering of media and fans. Unlike the ground of the Wild Card Boxing Club, it's much more difficult to keep the public away in such a private setting.

"It's distracting to me, it's distracting to him. I just don't want him doing something he shouldn't be doing because the cameras are on him and then possibly injuring himself," explained Fortune.

As their session wound down, a member of the UCLA staff and a police officer conferred with Fortune about the throng that surrounded Pacquiao and expressed some concerns.

"This is not our house, this is UCLA's and I don't want to distract from other coaches and athletes down here," said Fortune, who's been using this track for over fifteen years.

"We're guests here and it's a great venue, it's an unbelievable venue and we don't want to ruin it. So in that term it is very distracting to me."

In the past Pacquiao had used Griffith Park to run but Fortune wanted to give him a fresh perspective. The campus was eerily silent on Friday but that will soon change.

"We're going to clamp down Monday because spring break is over and schools back and the athletes will be back on the track. The athletes here, they know who he is and they respect him. He's another athlete, they work around him and they'll give hm space and do what they do and that's what they've done."

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.