Manny Pacquiao is ‘super old school’ and refuses ice baths or cryogenic treatment for recovery
- Filipino boxing icon prefers ‘warm water and salt’ over new recovery methods and technologies like hyperbaric chambers
- The 40-year-old has picked up a couple of injuries in training camp but his ‘amazing recuperative powers’ are enough
We’ve already heard about Manny Pacquiao’s intense fitness regime and strict diet – but the “super old school” fighter also has some unconventional recovery methods.
The 40-year-old Filipino icon heads into his WBA super welterweight title fight against Keith Thurman in phenomenal shape, on the back of a gruelling training camp in Los Angeles at trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing gym.
What’s even more remarkable is the fighting senator shuns new techniques and state-of-the-art technology, such as cryotherapy treatment, used by top athletes. He doesn’t even like ice baths.
“He’s super old school – super, super old school,” Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, Justin Fortune, told Fight Hub TV.
“I would like that we do ice baths or cryo, I’ve told him. He said, ‘I don’t like ice’. Cryo I’m not too big on, I prefer the old school ice baths. Any sort of ice for any sort of injury.
“We’ve got a couple [of injuries] through camp … [He said] ‘No’. He has amazing recuperative powers, it’s been proven. We’ve seen it. Very, very old school. I don’t like a lot of it but it is what it is.”