Ariza: How can Roach fire me? I don’t work for him

By Boxing News - 08/07/2013 - Comments

ariza543By Chris Williams: Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza was amused to learn that trainer Freddie Roach had fired him as Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach. Ariza says he doesn’t even work for Roach, so there’s no way possible that he could fire him.

Ariza said to the Manila Standard “I haven’t heard anything from Manny. How can Freddie fire me when I don’t work for him? Everybody knows that the past two years I haven’t worked for Freddie. I will give Manny a call and talk to him, but you just never know.”

The interesting part about this is that Pacquiao said this to ESPN last Friday when someone asked if Ariza would be training him for the Brandon Rios fight on November 23rd in Macao, China: “No, Freddie fired him.”

So did Roach actually tell Pacquiao he fired Ariza when he doesn’t work for him? How can Pacquiao not know that Ariza doesn’t work with Roach? After all, he does pay Ariza to train him. You would think that Pacquiao’s adviser Michael Koncz would have told Pacquiao that they pay Ariza, not Roach. Who knows? Maybe Pacquiao didn’t know that Ariza doesn’t work for Roach.

This could be good news for Ariza, because if Roach doesn’t have the power to decide his fate with Pacquiao, then he could be back with him, and believe me, Pacquiao needs Ariza now more than ever. Ariza needs to put Pacquiao back on the strength and conditioning regimen he had him on when Pacquiao was still fighting at a high level back in 2008 and 2009.

Ariza says he’s worried about Pacquiao in his fight against Rios, because he sees Rios as a dangerous puncher capable of beating Pacquiao unless he has a great training camp. Ariza said “Many people are saying there’s no way Rios can beat Manny, but that’s what they said before the Marquez fight.”

It wouldn’t be surprising to see Ariza back with Pacquiao in training camp, and Roach not happy about it. I don’t know why Roach should care. If he wants Pacquiao to win, he should be welcoming Ariza back with open arms, because things are looking pretty bleak for Pacquiao right now with him having lost his last two fights. If Roach wants the gravy train to continue a little while longer, he needs someone like Ariza to get Pacquiao in the best possible condition for this next fight so that he doesn’t get planked again.



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