Pacquiao vs. Barrera in 2003
IN PHOTO: Nov. 2003 San Antonio, USA Manny Pacquiao (R), from Cabangal, Phillipines, delivers a right to Mexican Marco A. Barrera during the world featherweight bout in San Antonio, November 15, 2003. Pacquiao defeated Barrera by a TKO in the 11th round. REUTERS/Joe Mitchell

With the super fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao less than three weeks away, Justin Fortune, the Australian conditioning coach of the Filipino champion has stated that this particular bout will define Pacquiao’s status in the boxing annals.

Fortune admitted that Pacquiao knows what at stake in the Mayweather-Pacquiao battle and that Pacquiao is very motivated for the upcoming bout on May 2, 2015 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States.

“This is the Manny from back in the [Erik] Morales and [Marco Antonio] Barrera and 1st [Juan Manuel] Marquez fights. This is where he sets his legacy,” Fortune told 8countnews.com writer Brad Cooney who asked the conditioning coach about the current form and mindset of Pacquiao. “He's fully aware of how big this one is. That's safe to say. He's so motivated for this fight that we actually have to pull him back a little bit. He wants to destroy this guy.”

Fortune is referring to the Pacquiao’s dominant wins over Morales; who lost to Pacquiao in their last two bouts, first via 10th round technical knockout loss in January 2006 and the second via a third round KO defeat in November that same year. Barrera was pulverised by Pacquiao three years earlier and is largely considered Pacquiao’s breakthrough performance in boxing’s elite circle.

For his part, Mayweather Jr. admitted that the fight against Pacquiao is one the biggest and toughest in his career saying in various interviews that “This is the biggest challenge of my life”.

With both fighters more than motivated to do their best, Fortune’s contention that Pacquiao will find his “old fire” has it merits owing to Pacquiao fighting better, when he is the underdog in a fight. Aside from the fight against Barrera 12 years ago, Pacquiao has been an underdog only once—against Oscar De La Hoya in 2008—and he dominated his opponent at that time. Pacquiao is a 2-to-1 underdog in all sports books that offer betting lines for the fight against Mayweather Jr.

The Mayweather-Pacquiao fight is considered the “Fight of the Century” owing to the magnitude of the fight—from demand on live gate tickets sales to projected record-breaking pay-per-view buys. With his conditioning coach predicting that he would have the “old fire”, Pacquiao’s offensive arsenal will be tested against the defensive-genius that is Mayweather Jr. and the fight could indeed be one for the ages.

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.

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