FORMER General Santos City native Nonito Donaire Sr. was tapped to
lend his expertise and beef up Manny Pacquiao’s think-tank in
preparation for the Filipino’s title bid against Lucas Matthysse on
July 15 at the Axiata Arena in Malaysia.
A week after opening training camp, Pacquiao added Donaire to help out
in plotting tactical plans against Matthysse, the reigning WBA
welterweight champion from Argentina.
“Donaire will serve as one of the assistant coaches,” said Pacquiao,
who did two trial rounds with the mitts with the father of former
world champion Nonito Donaire (Junior). It was Donaire Sr. who trained
and honed his son, who later won multiple former world championships
in three weight divisions.
“So far, so good. I am happy with my current team,” said Pacquiao, who
took two days off on Saturday and Sunday to rest and relax, coming off
a controversial loss last year in Australia against local brawler Jeff
Horn.
Pacquiao went scuba diving Sunday and was refreshed to do his road
work the morning after.
Pacquiao is trying to have an all-Filipino line-up in his bid to win
his 11th world title against a formidable opponent who has knocked out
36 of his 39 wins or a whopping 92 percent ratio. Matthysse has only
lost four times in his career.
Another former Philippine national team coach based in the US was
scheduled to join Pacquiao’s coaching staff should he pass the
standards set by the Filipino champion.
Long time friend and confidant Buboy Fernandez would still act as head
coach along with assistant trainer Raides “Nonoy” Neri.
Pacquiao is still about to name another team member soon, the person
who will help him in his strength and conditioning, to complete the
cast.
