By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza said he’d like to see pound-for-pound king  Manny Pacquiao give Juan Manuel Marquez one more chance after two fairly controversial fights  so he could “shut him up once and for all” since Marquez keeps claiming he won both clashes with Pacquiao. Ariza added, let’s see who is the better man now.”

However, Ariza said he’d like to see Pacquiao take at least a four-month rest before preparing for his next fight even as he suggested that if a third fight with Marquez happens it should be at 140 pounds since Manny can easily make the weight.

Ariza said he doesn’t “like to see Manny get hit” saying it hurts him probably more than it hurts Pacquiao and that he is certain Pacquiao could avoid such punches if he only decides not to get carried away and want to prove just how tough he is.

In his praise of Pacquiao, the strength and conditioning coach said “I told you, he is relentless and he’ll die in the ring before he gets beaten. He is tough as nails even though Margarito was just too big..”

Ariza slammed referee Laurence Cole for not stopping the fight even when Pacquiao looked at him in round eleven because Margarito’s right eye was severely cut and closed shut with a huge welt under his eye which prevented him from seeing the punches of Pacquiao whose blinding speed itself was a major problem to contend with.

Ariza said “this is a sport and sometimes you got to stop the fight because there is no need for a fighter to take that kind of a beating. Cole is the worst referee I have ever seen.”

Pacquiao supporters hark back to the fight against Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera in November 2003 when early in the fight Cole called a slip by Pacquiao as a knockdown and when Pacquiao clearly dropped Barrera, the referee ruled it a slip.

Ariza said the huge welt under Margarito’s right eye, high up on his cheek was a sign of “hemmoraging”  and the Mexican had to be taken to hospital for a series of tests.

At the same time Ariza felt that the beating Margarito received was “a measure of justice for what Margarito did to Miguel Cotto” implying he believes claims that Margarito had used loaded hand-wraps when he bloodied and battered Cotto on route to an eleventh round TKO on July 26, 2008.