Screengrab of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s Instagram post.
MANILA, Philippines—You can’t blame Floyd Mayweather Jr. for copying Hollywood as inspiration in his preparation against Manny Pacquiao.
In another curious move, Mayweather Monday posted on his Instagram account a video of himself chopping wood.
A video posted by Floyd Mayweather (@floydmayweather) on Mar 15, 2015 at 9:43pm PDT
The scene is reminiscent of the legendary film character Rocky Balboa—portrayed by Sylvester Stallone—who trained for his fight against Apollo Creed, in the “Rocky” series that started in 1976, by splitting logs.
Of course, such a training method, like hitting tires with a sledgehammer, was popular in the fight business of old.
It’s hardly being resorted to by boxers these days, though. Fighters now adopt plyometrics exercises and workouts that supposedly boost explosive power.
Mayweather may have taken a cue from Oscar De La Hoya and Juan Manuel Marquez, who also chopped wood and pounded tires while preparing for their fights with Pacquiao.
Marquez went on to pull off a sixth-round knockout over Pacquiao in 2012 in Las Vegas.
Not known for his punching power, Mayweather (47-0 with 26 knockouts) might be hoping that the arduous exercise will improve his arm strength. This will come in handy if he is forced to slug it out with Pacquiao in their Fight of the Century on May 2 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, Pacquiao went through random drug testing, one of the conditions imposed by Mayweather, Sunday morning.
RELATED STORIES
Pacquiao trains in public, goes full Rocky Balboa
Pacquiao, Mayweather agree to undergo rigid drug tests—report