By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Conditioning expert Alex Ariza, who has helped trainer Freddie Roach turn pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao into a dominating punching machine, says the sheer volume of punches by Pacquiao will be too much for undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr to handle when they clash at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on March 13.

Ariza said he was “just going to work so much on his (Pacquiao’s) speed and quickness that he’ll be too much for him (Mayweather) and ultimately the volume of punches will tell.”

Ariza said he will ”make sure that Manny is in condition to go twelve rounds because I think this is definitely going to be a twelve round fight” but at the same time  Ariza indicated he didn’t think “it would be as hard a factor on him physically as it will be on really focusing on Freddie’s strategic work.”

The conditioning guru said he believes the Mayweather fight “is really going to be a very tactical fight and we are going to see Freddie at  his best and doing his best work strategic-wise. ”

Ariza said he won’t have to focus too much “on making Manny such a bull but will just work on making him come with lighting speed, quickness and footwork.”

He said Mayweather “isn’t capable of hurting Manny but what Mayweather does, he does really well. His best punch is that jab and if Manny doesn’t take control early in the fight, it could be a long night.”

Ariza also noted that Mayweather “throws one punch at a time and if I can get Manny to adapt to starting fast, right off the bell jump on him quick, lots of angles, lots of volume and if he can do that over twelve rounds and stay busy at a high pace, he’ll be fine.”

The conditioning guru disclosed that Roach is already studying the tapes of Mayweather fights and “got his plans on and again it will show why Freddie is the best trainer in the world. He is such a master strategist.”

Word from Los Angeles is that Pacquiao is likely to train exclusively at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles but Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz told us they haven’t decided yet on whether or not to begin training in Baguio City where Pacquiao trained at the start of his preparation for the WBO welterweight title fight against Miguel Cotto last November 14.

Koncz also informed us that Top Rank promoter Bob Arum had added a Los Angeles news conference to the one originally scheduled for New York and is bringing the date forward by one week.  He said Pacquiao who is in Manila will leave for his hometown of General Santos City on the 24th to celebrate Christmas with his family and is scheduled to begin training on January 18.