Ariza thinks Pacquiao’s smaller size will be an advantage for him against Margarito

By Boxing News - 09/04/2010 - Comments

Image: Ariza thinks Pacquiao's smaller size will be an advantage for him against MargaritoBy Dave Lahr: Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza believes that Manny Pacquiao, who he just happens to work for, will have an advantage against two-time welterweight champion Antonio Margarito because of his smaller size on November 13th. In an article by Ronnie Nathanielsz at Inquirer.net, Ariza, speaking about the advantages of being smaller, said “An advantage because to fight a small guy, you have to make yourself small. It’s no secret that Margarito doesn’t move his feet, he doesn’t move well, he doesn’t move side to side and a smaller guy can create more problems than fighting a guy your own size who is there in front of you all the time.”

What Ariza doesn’t say is that Pacquiao will have a special catch weight for this fight so that Margarito’s weight advantage is pretty much nil. That’s a nice handicap that few other fighters have when fighting for a championship. Normally, the bigger fighter beats the smaller fighter in boxing. If you put Pacquiao in with Paul Williams, Sergio Martinez or James Kirkland, I’d have an extremely hard time seeing Pacquiao as having the advantage in that fight because he was smaller. Unless some god awful catch weight involved where those guys would have to be reduced to nothing, I think being small would be a really bad thing for Pacquiao.

As such, I dismiss Ariza’s thoughts about the smaller fighter having the advantage. Pacquiao has an advantage in the Margarito fight, but that’s because of the catch weight and because Margarito is a painfully slower fighter without hand any hand speed and because he’s looked horrible in his last two fights. That’s why it seems incredibly strange that Margarito has been selected as Pacquiao’s opponent rather than someone that is still fighting well like Sergio Martinez, Paul Williams or even Alfredo Angulo.

It’s easy to pick out a fighter that’s struggling, and then have them boil down with a catch weight handicap and beat them. But that’s not like beating a fighter that’s doing well and is considered to be the best fighter at that weight. I don’t see Margarito as being a top five fighter at junior middleweight, but the WBC has ranked him for some reason.

Ariza says “If Shane Mosley can hurt Margarito, I definitely think Manny can hurt Margarito.” Of course, that’s why it seems insane that Margarito was selected for Pacquiao. If you already know that the 38-year-old Mosley handed Margarito a new backside, then why is Pacquiao being matched against Margarito? Shouldn’t be put in with Mosley? Am I missing something here? Why fight the guy that just finished getting the stuffing beaten out of him rather than the guy that beat him? Mosley’s not much bigger than Pacquiao, so Ariza’s size theory might not hold as much weight. The smaller beats the bigger, eh? I doubt it. The smaller beats the bigger guy when the bigger is looking shot. Then I agree with Ariza’s brilliance. Throw in a catch weight to drain the bigger guy and now the smaller guy is looking better than ever.



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