By Dan Ambrose: Strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, the guy that was instrumental in increasing the strength of Manny Pacquiao as he climbed the divisions, was seen at the Mayweathe Boxing Gym last night in helping WBA/WBC welterweight champion Floyd Mayweather Jr (46-0, 26 KOs) stretch before a long run.
There’s no word yet whether Ariza is officially working with Mayweather or if this one just a one-time thing with Ariza being at the gym and helping out.
It would be interesting if Ariza does take over in helping Mayweather in his final weeks of training to get him ready for his September 13th rematch against Marcos Maidana (35-4, 31 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Ariza had been training Maidana up until recently when he was let go by Maidana’s trainer Robert Garcia all of a sudden. It was a strange move by Garcia, because Ariza had seemingly done a good job with Maidana with both of his fights against Adrien Broner and Mayweather. When you have someone who is producing the goods like Ariza was in getting Maidana in top shape then there’s no reason to make a change.
Having Ariza on his team could be one way for Mayweather to get under the skin of Maidana and Robert Garcia. Even if Ariza doesn’t have a big effect on Mayweather’s conditioning in the final weeks of the fight, he could make it interesting to watch him on Showtime’s ALL ACCESS: Mayweather-Maidana 2 episodes.
Ariza was one of the best things that Manny Pacquiao had going for him on HBO’s 24/7 episodes, because Pacquiao frequently had very little interesting to say, and one could only listen to his trainer Freddie Roach brag and make wild knockout predictions before it started to get a little old. Ariza at least had new things to say and he was interesting to watch him put Pacquiao through his training paces. Roach let Ariza go last year as Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning trainer.
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