Pacquiao’s buildup for Matthysse escalates

Four weeks before taking on a formidable foe, Manny Pacquiao saw his training take up a notch after going nine hard rounds in General Santos City.

There is no sense of urgency over at Pacquiao’s camp with lead trainer Buboy Fernandez delighted with the outcome of his childhood friend’s training for the July 15 crack at the World Boxing Association welterweight crown of Lucas Matthysse of Argentina.

“Slow but sure,” said Fernandez, who has assumed the role of top dog in Pacquiao’s training team in the absence of Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach.

Fernandez is being assisted by his brother Roger Fernandez, Nonoy Neri and Dodong Donaire, father of four-division world champion Nonito Donaire.

Matthysse (39-4 with 36 KOs) is making the first defense of the WBA 147-lb title that he won last January after knocking out Thai Tewa Kiram in Los Angeles.

As he gears up for Pacquiao (59-7-2 with 38 KOs), whom the South American battler believes will be at his best, Matthysse is also training like hell in Indio, California, under a brilliant mind in Joel Diaz.

Diaz, according to Pacquiao’s Australian strength coach Justin Fortune, is one of the best in the business.

Pacquiao, who turns 40 in December, took a one-day break from training last Tuesday to preside over the opening of the MPBL but he jetted back to General Santos City to resume his training.