Ariza: Mayweather is waiting to kick Berto’s behind

By Boxing News - 07/25/2015 - Comments

arizaBy Chris Williams: Floyd Mayweather Jr’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza says that Mayweather is training hard for his potential fight against former IBF/WBC welterweight Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KOs) on September 12th at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ariza says that Mayweather can’t wait to whip Berto’s backside when he gets him inside the ring.

Mayweather is taking his training as serious as he always does even though he’s facing a lesser opponent than what he’s become accustomed to. Berto may in fact turn out to be a tougher opponent than Mayweather’s last opponent Manny Pacquiao, who looked like he gave up after the 1st round after tasting Mayweather’s right hand.

Berto couldn’t possibly do worse than Pacquiao. The bar is really low for Berto to outdo what Pacquiao did.

“It’s great to see such a work ethic because I too am learning different things from the greatest,” Ariza said to the New Standard/Boxingmirror.com. “Floyd is training non-stop because he never takes chances. [Mayweather] is waiting to kick Berto’s behind.”

Berto is a good opponent for Mayweather as far as him being someone who will make it an interesting fight for as long as it lasts. I don’t think Mayweather will try to knock Berto out. I think he’ll go the full 12 rounds with him, and for that reason it should be really interesting to see how the fight winds up.

I think Berto will make it more exciting than guys like Amir Khan, Keith Thurman, and Shawn Porter would make it. Berto comes to fight, and he won’t be running around all over the ring like those fighters would. Porter wouldn’t run, but he’d make it messy by attacking Mayweather on the inside and making it really sloppy from start to finish. I don’t think it would be a fun to watch fight.

For Mayweather, “It’s personal,” with him and Berto, says Ariza. They have some history with one another and Mayweather will be looking to take it out on him when he gets him inside the ring.

Ariza says Mayweather is looking good in sparring with “young, big aggressive kids” and that Mayweathern “allows at least a hundred people to come in and watch him perform.” Mayweather doesn’t care if a large group of people watch him spar, unlike Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach, who Ariza says has made Pacquiao’s sparring sessions closed off to the public.

Ariza thinks that Pacquiao trained better when his sparring sessions were open to the public rather than sessions that are only attended by Roach and a small group of people. This was “a very essential part of Manny’s life, sparring in front of so many people.”

Ariza believes that Pacquiao was hurt by Roach making his sparring sessions private. Roach apparently is worried that one of Pacquiao’s opponents could get something from the sparring sessions somehow, even though Pacquiao fights the same way each time he fights. The sparring sessions are just like Pacquiao’s normal fights. If Roach is teaching Pacquiao new things in the sparring sessions, then we’re not seeing it in his fights because Pacquiao always fights the same way.



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