LAS VEGAS — Manny Pacquiao encountered so many distractions during training camp prior to his fight with Yordenis Ugas that one of his closest confidantes still doesn’t know how he went through with it.

Pacquiao’s camps are typically chaotic because he has so many people around him and tends to other obligations when he comes to the Los Angeles area to train for fights.

Assistant trainer Justin Fortune remembers camp for the Ugas bout becoming a tumultuous time even for Pacquiao — and that was before the Filipino superstar switched from fighting a southpaw, Errol Spence Jr., to facing the right-handed Ugas on less than two weeks’ notice in August 2021 in Las Vegas.

“This time his mindset is different,” Fortune told The Ring regarding Pacquiao’s preparation to challenge WBC welterweight champ Mario Barrios on Saturday night at MGM Grand Garden Arena. “The last fight was a disaster. He was running for president and trying to fight for a world title. Who does that? Then the opponent changed. It was just chaos. For this one, he’s focused big-time.”

Pacquiao, who was a senator in the Philippines at that time, announced his retirement five weeks after Ugas upset him in part to fully focus on his long-rumored presidential campaign. He secured only 7 percent of the votes in the presidential election Bongbong Marcos won in May 2022.

Fortune is sure Pacquiao’s preoccupation with politics negatively impacted his performance against Ugas, who won their 12-round bout by unanimous decision. Ugas replaced Spence on such short notice because of a detached retina while training.

“The camp was a [expletive] mess,” Fortune said. “They were always chaotic, but this was more of a mess. Then once the opponent changed, everyone fell to pieces. I can go into more detail when I’m out of boxing. And also, one of the senators or congressmen had just got shot in the Philippines, and that was a friend of Manny’s. It just kept piling up and this poor bastard was supposed to concentrate on a world title fight. It was difficult for him. I’m surprised he actually even did it. It was just one thing after another.”

Fortune has seen a much different fighter since Pacquiao, 46, arrived at head trainer Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood on May 19 to prepare for his first fight since Ugas beat him on the scorecards of Patricia Morse Jarman (115-113), Dave Moretti (116-112) and Steve Weisfeld (116-112).

“He’s still very, very fast,” Fortune said. “He’s faster than anyone out there. He always was. His power is pretty much the same. He’s ridiculously strong. But he’s focused and he’s happy, and a happy fighter is a very, very dangerous fighter.”

Fortune, who has worked with Pacquiao for more than two decades, compared this camp for the Barrios to when he fought Argentine knockout artist Lucas Matthysse in July 2018. Pacquiao’s seventh-round stoppage of Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, marked his first fight in the full year since Australian underdog Jeff Horn upset him by unanimous decision in July 2017 in Brisbane.

“When we had Matthyse, everyone had Manny getting smashed,” Fortune said. “And we had a great, great camp. Me and [fellow assistant trainer] Buboy’Fernandez, we trained like dogs, we had great sparring, we had a helluva lot of fun, we were laughing our asses off. Manny was very relaxed and we knocked this guy out in [seven] rounds. It was his first knockout in [seven] fights. That’s the Pacquiao that I see now, the same guy.”

Barrios (29-2-1, 18 KOs), of San Antonio, Texas, is still nearly a 3-1 favorite over Pacquiao (62-8-2, 39 KOs), according to DraftKings. Their 147-pound championship clash will headline a four-fight Premier Boxing Champions pay-per-view event available via all cable and satellite providers in the United States (8 p.m. ET; 5 p.m. PT; $79.99).