Interesting Interview with Alex Ariza (Mannys Strength and Conditioning Coach)

[Pretty Boy32]

Mayweather-Pacquiao, PEDs, and Boxing

Sun 17-Jan-2010 21:27

By Thomas Hauser

Two days before Manny Pacquiao fought Miguel Cotto, I talked with Alex Ariza, who has been Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach since early 2008. When I asked what it was like to work with an athlete of Manny’s caliber, Ariza shook his head in wonder.

“It’s an extraordinary experience,” he said. “Athletes start to backslide around age twenty-eight if they haven’t started to decline before then. Manny is thirty and he’s getting better. Our records don’t lie. Not only is he getting stronger; he’s actually getting faster as he moves up in weight. I’ve worked with some great athletes, but I’ve never worked with an athlete like Manny.”

"“But there’s one thing that’s very frustrating for me,” Ariza added. “Manny won’t let me do all the tests I want to do with him. There are tests I’d love to do to determine his lung capacity, but they’re invasive and he won’t let me do them. And there are other measurements, quite a few, that I’d like to take, but I can’t because Manny is very protective of his body.”


Full Article:

http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/mayweather-pacquiao-peds-and-boxing

[Foodie One]

This is an interesting article indeed.

That brings us to the aborted superfight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr, also known melodramatically as “the world held hostage,” “the end of life as we know it,” and “the worst thing that ever happened to boxing (since at least last year).”

Bart Barry recently opined, “Pacquiao is a charismatic action fighter who’s created a market for prizefighting in the Philippines and made it as popular as ever throughout Asia. Mayweather is a foul-mouthed defensive specialist whose fights lose more fans than they gain. Pacquiao is good for boxing. Mayweather is good for Mayweather.”

Floyd’s fans will take issue with that appraisal. But the reality of the situation is that, over the past year, Pacquiao (not Mayweather) has become the standard-bearer for boxing in the United States and the rest of the world.


In the wake of Pacquiao’s November 14, 2009, demolition of Miguel Cotto, calls for a Pacquiao-Mayweather showdown reached a fever pitch. Mayweather’s father (Floyd Mayweather Sr) stated publicly that he thought his son would “whup” Manny but advised against his taking the fight because, he claimed, Pacquiao was using performance enhancing drugs.

That earned a riposte from Freddie Roach (Pacquiao’s trainer), who referenced Sr’s criminal past with the observation, “Just because he’s a convicted drug dealer doesn’t make him a drug expert.”

Alex Ariza (Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach) weighed-in with the observation, “When he first started saying that stuff, I didn’t really address it because it was coming from Floyd. But things like that can start to snowball. I’m not saying this to be demeaning, but Floyd never finished high school and I’m not sure he knows the difference between steroids and supplements.”

More to the point, Ariza told ESPN.com, “Manny does take supplements. I’m talking about multi-vitamins and trace minerals. He takes other supplements for his kidney and liver because he’s on such a high-protein diet. All of them are perfectly legal. I’m completely in control of what goes into Manny. Everything he puts into his body is my responsibility. Manny takes nothing illegal.”

Team Pacquiao also noted that Manny had fought in Las Vegas eleven times and never tested positive for an illegal drug.



Pacquiao has an aversion to invasive testing. Indeed, when Shelly Finkel (who now has a “strategic alliance” with Golden Boy) co-managed Manny, he once asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission to waive a required eye test because Pacquiao didn’t want to undergo the procedure in proximity to the fight. The commission refused to grant the waiver.

“You gotta understand,” Arum said, with regard to the demand for USADA testing. “I’m dealing with a Filipino fighter who is superstitious, and I have to tell him they have the power to come into his dressing room before the fight and take his blood. Manny gets freaked out when his blood gets taken and feels that it weakens him. They would put nothing in writing as to any kind of schedule. That is ludicrous.”

Pacquiao, for his part, declared, “I’m not going to let them take my blood whenever they want when I’m getting seriously ready for a fight. They can take all the urine they want.”



One day later, Oscar De La Hoya (the primary equity participant in Golden Boy) poured his own cup of poison into the brew in the form of a blog authored for The Ring Online.

“If Pacquiao, the toughest guy on the planet, is afraid of needles and having a few tablespoons of blood drawn from his system,” De La Hoya wrote, “then something is wrong. The guy has tattoos everywhere. You’re telling me he’s afraid of needles? If Pacquiao doesn’t want to do this and risks a possible $40 million payday because he’s afraid of needles or believes he’ll be weakened by blood tests, that raises question marks. Now I have to wonder about him. I’m saying to myself, ‘Wow. Those Mosley punches, those Vargas punches, and those Pacquiao punches all felt the same.’ I’m not saying yes or no [about whether Pacquiao might be taking performance-enhancing drugs]. I’m just saying that now people have to wonder: ‘Why doesn’t he want to do this? Why is it such a big deal?’ A lot of eyebrows have been raised. This is not good at all. I would say to Pacquiao, ‘Do the test. Do it because it’s only a couple of tablespoons. Needles don’t hurt. Just look away when they put the needle in your arm.’ He’ll probably lose more blood in the fight than the blood being drawn for the test. Why don’t you want to do it? C’mon. It’s only a little bit of blood. If you have nothing to hide, then do the test.”


De La Hoya’s statement was hypocritical. For starters, there was his claim that Pacquiao’s punches felt like those of Shane Mosley and Fernando Vargas (both of whom had used performance enhancing drugs prior to fighting Oscar). Yet on two prior occasions, De La Hoya had demeaned Pacquiao’s punching power. First, he’d stated, “Luckily, he doesn’t hit hard. Obviously, if he hit hard, he would have knocked me out with no problem.” Later, Oscar had maintained, “Truthfully, he didn’t hit hard. He didn’t really hurt me. But the punches were so fast and they were coming from everywhere.”

http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/mayweather-pacquiao-peds-and-boxing

More to follow

[Carpe Diem]

Goddammit, Lady fan. Post your BS one-sided article elsewhere.

[Foodie One]

Goddammit, Lady fan. Post your BS one-sided article elsewhere.

Geez, don't get all angry. This is Pretty Boy 32's Thread you know. He brought up the article, I didn't. I'm just pointing out a few interesting details in it that's all.

[baracuda]

some of the side of effects of ped's are being noticeable on floyd ;

1.shrunken testicles

2.tumors and cysts....theres a big lump on the back of floyd's head..

3.delutional behaviors...very evident...