By Chris Robinson
While boxing is surely a sport full of gratification for those who manage to find success, strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza had little time to celebrate last weekend following his star fighter Manny Pacquiao’s destructive performance over Antonio Margarito. After the Filipino star’s expected win on Saturday night, Ariza was on a flight home the following night and in camp the next day with two other high-profile athletes in WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan and middleweight contender Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.
Chavez meets up with Contender alum Alfonso Gomez on December 4th at the Hondo Center in Anaheim, California with a possible spring date with Miguel Cotto in the balance while Khan faces off with interim champion and brutal puncher Marcos Maidana one week later at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada. During his time in camp with each man, Ariza has gotten to see many sides of their personas that extend well beyond their abilities as fighters and the connection is one that has left him slightly wearing his emotions on his sleeve.
I recently caught up with Ariza to get his take on his experience in Dallas, Texas at the Pacquiao-Margarito fight, working closely with Khan and Chavez Jr, his thoughts towards potential foes for Pacquiao such as Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez plus much more.
In his own words this is what Ariza had to say…
On track with Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr…
“It’s great. Amir came out two weeks early to the Philippines just to focus on conditioning. He ended up doing some sparring as well. We are right on track and everything is going really well. That sums up how Amir’s camp is going. Chavez got here a little late but he’s back on track. He just did eight rounds the other day, easy. He’s right there. I have them training together and oddly enough they are becoming really good friends.”
Young and humble…
“They are both great and humble guys. Probably that’s what people don’t see. I guess maybe people see all the flash and this and that but those guys are really just down to earth. They are only 24 years old and they have all that responsibility on their hands and a lot of people depending on them. At the same time you have to remember, they are just kids. Even being as popular as they are, they are great athletes and very disciplined. Everybody knows that I believe in training and some of things that I sometimes do are out of the ordinary but those guys never complain. I can tell by looking at their face that they don’t like it but they never complain.”
A wake up call…
“They do their work and it’s a breath of fresh air. Coming from Manny who likes to fight about everything to guys who will do whatever you want them to do. I also think it was a wake up call. They both said that for the first time they had never seen Manny get tired. That was a wake up call for them. That’s what I told them. I said ‘Don’t forget what got you here’. You can’t take shortcuts. There is always something to pay for taking shortcuts.”
A day in the life…
“On our conditioning days, our days start at 5:15. We like and get out of here because wherever we go, whether it’s in L.A. to the pool or whatever we end up doing it is when the light starts to come out and we can usually beat the crowd. That gives us time to be back home, fed and in bed by 7 O’clock and then we’re back; Julio starts at 1:30 and Amir starts at 2:30 or 3. Then they finish their day and we get ready for the next day. Sleep and eat, sleep and eat, sleep and eat.”
Reflecting on Dallas…
“The experience was amazing. I think there were more people at the Clottey fight but I think the way they had it, we came from the back area and we walked up on this stage, and I remember looking at the screen where they were showing highlights and I remember seeing tier after tier after tier of people. It was sick. It too bad that we only did that a few seconds but it really is electrifying. You could just feel the energy going up through your insides and vibrating from people stomping and yelling. It was insane.”
The carnage of Pacquiao-Margarito…
“To be honest with you it was kind of tough for me. Because I think around the ninth or tenth I told Freddie ‘Manny’s going to kill him’ and he said ‘Yeah, I know’ and then I said ‘No, he’s going to kill him dead’. Because I could see his face becoming deformed. When his face was swelling like that there was some serious hemorrhaging going on. The cut wasn’t bleeding because there was so much bleeding from underneath that there was nothing that could come. There was so much pressure. It was carnage. I caught myself a couple of times yelling ‘Stop this already’. I think Manny reeled off a four or five punch combination right to Margarito’s head and I could literally see his face come off of his skull and slide around his head. It was so close. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like Margarito but I don’t want to see him killed. There’s a time when we have to remember that this is a sport. I think that Robert Garcia should never train another fighter for the rest of his life. If he is that irresponsible and so inexperienced that he’s going to let his fighter die for Mexican pride? I’m Latin too but I would never want to see any of my guys get hit like that.”
Preferences for Pacquiao’s next fight…
“I’m always going to say Marquez. I don’t care who they have lined up or whatever it is. I’m always going to say Marquez. Marquez is the guy who has the balls, he has the heart and like I said he’s stupid enough to think he can beat Manny. That’s a good fight. Shane Mosley? I don’t like Shane Mosley. He quit against Mayweather. It’s hard enough to get Manny motivated to train for a fight. Now you’re going to put Mosley in front of us? I could stay at home for that fight. We’d just train for a week. Play some basketball, get Manny back a couple times and boom, go in there and fight. It would be easy.”
Back to work…
“It’s funny. It’s sad to say it goes for both [Freddie and I]. We don’t have that big entourage of people. It’s not an all day party for us. We flew home Sunday and we started work on Monday. Now our focus is on our other two guys. We want to give them the same kind of attention and work that we put into Manny. Of course we want to share in these two victories.”
Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here, and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com
