By Rick Reeno
Alex Ariza, the strength and conditioning coach for WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, would like to see a trilogy fight with Juan Manuel Marquez. Ariza doesn't see the fight happening, at least for now, because Marquez is reportedly "overpriced himself." Pacquiao is scheduled to return on April 16 at the MGM Grand. The frontrunner opponent is "Sugar" Shane Mosley.
Ariza is a little upset with the way Marquez has handled his pursuit of Pacquiao. Following his recent win over Michael Katsidis at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Marquez came out to the post-fight press conference with a t-shirt reading "I beat Manny Pacquiao twice." When it came time to submit proposals for Pacquiao's April fight, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum has claimed in several BoxingScene interviews, that Marquez was requesting a very high number to face Pacquiao for a third time.
"Marquez needs to decide if he's going to stop talking out of his mouth and out of his ass. He comes out and says 'I beat Manny, I'll fight Manny, I'll fight Manny at 147.' But then when he talks out of his ass - he says 'I'll fight him for $5 million dollars.' Do you see what I'm saying? Man up. Take whatever they are offering you and then kill him like you say you can, like you say you can beat him, and then go and get that big payday that you want. You know that you're the king of the mountain after you beat Manny," Ariza told BoxingScene.com.
"Quit pricing yourself out of the game. Man up. Quit saying that you're going to do one thing on this side of the fence and then hop on the other side of the fence behind closed doors, and behind the cell phone, and behind your promoter, and say 'I want $5 million dollars,' when you know that you are never going to see that money."
