Boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr goes back to his throwback training technique of cutting wood from tree trunks to shape up for Sunday's battle with Pacquiao
Las Vegas: Floyd Mayweather has turned to 'throwback training' in the belief it will take something special to defeat Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Floyd Mayweather Jr during his WBC/WBA welterweight title fight against Marcos Maidana at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada last September. Pic/AFP
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Mayweather has been chopping 700lbs tree trunks sourced from the forests surrounding Big Bear Lake at his Las Vegas home to enhance his conditioning for the richest fight in history.
The 38-year-old abandoned the Rocky-style technique after becoming estranged from his father Floyd Mayweather Sr, who returned to his corner in 2013 and has overseen preparations for Pacquiao.
"I want to win. I really want to win and mentally I have to go back to where it all started from because he's not just any other fighter," Mayweather told ESPN.
"I don't think feel like there's anything I can't accomplish and that's why I'm pushing myself to the limit right now. I'm going back. Throwback training... I have to go back to where it all started from.
I have to go back to day one. Chopping wood, it's the best for you. It all started with the sledge hammer when I was 10 years old. And then when I was 13 or 14, I started chopping with the axe.
"My dad showed me how to chop and all throughout my amateur career I used the axe. I stopped using it when I started training with uncle Roger because me and my dad weren't seeing eye to eye."
The most lucrative clash in boxing history is expected to generate in the region of £332 million with Mayweather taking £100million, a sum that will translate into the highest annual earnings for any global athlete barely five months into the year.
Mayweather is the clear favourite but born-again Christian Pacquiao would be a far more popular winner, with his coach Freddie Roach going as far as to describe the fight as a battle of 'good versus evil.'
Rs 66crore
The amount Floyd Mayweather Jr is set to make from Sunday's fight vs Manny Pacquiao