By Shaun Campbell: There have been many rumours circulating that strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza has been sacked by Freddie Roach and told that his services are no longer required at the Wild Card Gym. These stories have been denied by Roach saying that Ariza had contracts with the fighters, not himself. So it has emerged that the man that is responsible for taking pound for pound king Manny Pacquiao from an average sized lightweight to a light-middleweight, will no longer be working with Amir Khan.
It is believed that the WBA light-welterweight champions father, Shah, was the man who decided that Ariza was no longer needed as part of team Khan. However, the conditioning was evident in Khan’s last fight against Marcos Maidana in the 10th round where Khan took a monstrous shot and was wobbled badly. His conditioning kept him the title as he was able to move around the ring and his chin stood up to the test against one of the most devastating punchers in the division. Now he will enter training camp for his next fight against Paul McCloskey without Ariza.
It is unlikely that this will have too much of an effect against McCloskey, as the Bolton man should have too much class, talent and skill for the current European champion. But it’s against people like Timothy Bradley where it may harm his chances. Khan also talks about moving up to welterweight, and without the help of his strength and conditioning coach, it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his speed and power.
Without Ariza Pacquiao may not have been able to move up in weights so successfully. Without Ariza Khan may have run out of steam on the night he won the WBA title against Andriy Kotelnik, a fight in which Khan looked very tired in in the late stages. There’s no doubt that Amir has massive talent. But not having Ariza on board may prove to be more costly than he originally thought.
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