By Chris Williams: Manny Pacquiao’s conditioning coach Alex Ariza is very concerned about Pacquiao’s training for his June 9th fight against Timothy Bradley. Pacquiao has been suffering leg cramps in some of his recent fights and looking dog tired in the later rounds, even in mismatches against fighters that have been little more than punching bags for him like Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito.

Ariza said to the manilastandardtoday.com “We can’t have a bad camp. His [Pacquiao] physical conditioning is very important. This must happen all the way.”

I wonder what Ariza means by “All the way”? Does it mean he’s going to put Pacquiao through the whole regimen of his exercises and/or health diet? I don’t know about this. If what Ariza has done in the past isn’t working in terms of Pacquiao looking fresh and not plagued by leg cramps, then something isn’t work anymore. It could be that Pacquiao needs to lighten up instead of going “All the way.” That sounds like some kind of torturous exercise scheme that Ariza may be dreaming up for Pacquiao.

If he was a young fighter, I’d give an okay but with caution. I remember I had one particular coach back in my football days who would tear us down with unbelievable exercises until after dark. We had to train with the football scoreboard lights on. By Friday, we’d be too worn down to play. All season long it was like this. There were no light days.

I think Pacquiao would be better off lightening up rather than going through even more exercises. I’d say he should lose Ariza as an experiment for this fight. You know, just jump him for this fight and see how he does without Ariza’s training routines. If Pacquiao doesn’t experience any leg cramps and the sprint returns to his step, then keep Ariza out for another fight. Just keep doing it fight by fight basis. I think that would be smart because I have a feeling Pacquiao is being overworked by Ariza, and whatever they’re doing, it just doesn’t look like it’s working.