Ex-Pacquiao strength coach upbeat on Llover

MANILA, Philippines -- Pacquiao-esque?

If you were to ask veteran strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, Filipino boxing prospect Kenneth Llover is showing shades of eight-time world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

Ariza, who has also worked with Pacquiao and other boxing champions, is training Llover ahead of his fight against two-division world champion Luis Concepcion next month.

“He is good. He is young and raw; he only has 14 fights. Obviously, we can see the Pacquiao influence on him — the movement, the speed, and he has great power,” Ariza said in a statement.

“It is going to be a road ahead of us, but there is a lot of potential. He has an exciting, fan-favorite style,” he added.

The 22-year-old Llover is coming off back-to-back knockouts in Japan.

He defeated Tulio Dekanarudo and Keita Kurihara in his previous two fights, both via first round technical knockout.

The undefeated Llover, who has tallied nine knockouts in his 14 matches, is currently ranked ninth in Ring Magazine's bantamweight rankings.

Still, it will not be easy for the Filipino to grab the win against the Panamanian, who is holding a 40-11 win-loss record with 29 knockouts.

Ariza said that the young Filipino pug “does not complain about anything” in his training.

“He doesn’t mind getting up early, and he doesn’t mind what we feed him. The entire team is here and we’re putting the same focus into Kenneth as we did when we started moving Manny up in weight. It’s the same team,” he said.

The Llover-Concepcion matchup will be held on August 17 at the Winford Resort and Casino in Manila.