By Chris Robinson

Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. is expected to head back to the Wild Card Boxing Club in Los Angeles, California to begin training for his next fight, which now looks to be a March 19th tune up against David Medina prior to his May challenge of Sebastian Zbik's WBC middleweight crown. While on the surface it may seem like business as usual for the 24-year old Chavez, there had been some glaring reports in recent weeks that his strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza was cut from his team.
 
Ariza 's name had also been in the spotlight recently as news spread like wildfire that he had also went his separate ways with WBA junior welterweight champion Amir Khan. While that fallout is a story all its own, Ariza was quick to refute the claims that he and Chavez Jr. had parted ways.
 
"To be honest with you, I heard first thing that he was going to be arriving Thursday morning," Ariza said recently.  "Stuff that we had talked about after the [Lyell] fight, kind of the way that I pushed him during those three weeks, that it would be kind of a shame if I didn't give him at least a two-week break and then resume and stay in some sort of form until we got the details of the Zbik fight.
 
"Then it turned into something else. Apparently something was written, I didn't read it, that I was fired from running his camp. I can't even really give a statement on it because I don't know. Everybody knows my phone number. If you want to know, just call me. I keep in touch with my fighters, especially in the offseason."
 
Ariza's split with Khan was shocking, as the Colombian native appeared to be doing a great job with the British star. Khan is coming off of a wild December decision win over Marcos Maidana, a fight in which his great conditioning allowed him to weather a late storm from the Argentinean, and one would have thought that he and Ariza would remain close for several years.
 
Asked if he was surprised at how things played out, Ariza hinted that he knew something troubling was brewing within Khan's inner circle prior to their separation.
 
"For me, I knew back in December when they had supposedly called Freddie and his attorney Nick," Ariza said of Shah Khan, the pupil's father, and a few select individuals. "They were upset that I had signed Amir to an exclusive contract with myself as a conditioning coach. Once I knew that they were upset about it and not just the signing, but they were lying and saying how I had Amir sign it two hours before the fight - Once you know that's the direction that they are going in, that's what's going to happen. It didn't really take me by surprise. What takes me by surprise is the lack of professionalism that they did it in.
 
"Between  five guys they couldn't come up with a pair of balls to call me on the phone?"
 
The lack of professionalism Ariza is referring to is based on his claims that either a sole individual or members from Khan's camp had broken into his hotel room on the night of the Maidana fight and stolen his contract with Amir. I had heard of reports that Ariza later mentioned that he felt it was Amir himself who spearheaded the break in.
 
Asked whether he really felt the 24-year old was guilty or not, Ariza could only offer up a few hints.
 
"Again, I think people are hearing things out of context," he continued. "Somebody mentioned it to me that Amir had one of the firends taking it out of my room. His receptionist and her assistant. They knew the lawyer wasn't going to take it, they knew the manager's not going to go in there and take it. Who would send somebody in there? The contract was done in a private setting between me and Amir. The only people who knew he signed the contract was Amir. Why would anybody go in there looking for anything?"
 
Khan will still be working with head trainer Freddie Roach and has landed at the Wild Card to begin training for his April 16th date with Irishman Paul McCloskey. If successful, Amir could be in line for a July date against IBF and WBO champion Timothy Bradley.
 
But would it be awkward for Ariza if he ever crossed paths with Amir inside of the Wild Card or anywhere else for that matter?
 
"It's not whether I see him one way or the other," stated Ariza. "I'm going to focus on my two guys, which is Chavez and Manny. I don't' wish any ill will towards the kid. Unfortunately that is just not what I am accustomed to. I feel more for Freddie, who has been thrown in the middle of it, for [them] trying to put the bill on Freddie, and saying that it's his choice. I mean, man up and take responsibility for what you are saying and doing in the media. Don't put it on Freddie. People always associate me and Freddie. To me, that's the hard part. It affects him more than it really does me."
 
Ariza of course has gained much notoriety through his work with WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, whom he linked up with after the Filipino star's March 2008 split decision victory over Juan Manuel Marquez. Pacquiao is slated to face off with former three-division champion Shane Mosley on May 7th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and while Ariza had criticized Shane as an opponent a few months back, he has since changed up his opinion on the contest.
 
"My thoughts is, just like anything else, I learned years ago when I just started, never train  a guy based on the opponent's last fight," Ariza noted. "Never trust his last fight because you never know how he is going to come out for yours. So in my head I always prepare for the best of whoever it is. I'm thinking of the Mosley who fought Margarito. The Mosley who had the great fights against De La Hoya. The Mosley who was at his best. In my head that's who I'm thinking we're going into a fight with. That weighs and that's my action and approach in training Manny."
 
It definitely hasn't been all smooth sailing with Ariza over the past few months, from a well-documented feud with cut man Miguel Diaz, the fallout with Team Khan, and rumors circulating in regards to his relationship with both Chavez and Pacquiao. Always one to give a sharp comeback, you can tell that Ariza is tired of all the talk and just ready to get back on his grind.
 
"You can't waist too much energy On that. One door closes and another one opens. I think this is going to be a big year for Julio. We're going to have a full camp for Zbik and when you hear these kind of things, what they are saying in the media, I don't know what is warranting it but it motivates me to help my fighters give great performances."

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