Ariza thinks Pacquiao had leg cramps during Mayweather fight

By Boxing News - 05/03/2015 - Comments

1-05-2By Dan Ambrose: According to the Manila Standard, Manny Pacquiao’s former strength and conditioning trainer Alex Ariza believes that Pacquiao was plagued by leg cramps last Saturday night in his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. (48-0, 26 KOs) at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Ariza reportedly saw one of Pacquiao’s corner-men rubbing down his legs in between rounds, and he believes that was a sign that Pacquiao was suffering from a case of leg cramps.

Ariza doesn’t say which one of Pacquiao’s corner-man, trainer Freddie Roach or assistant helper Buboy Fernandez, was massaging Pacquiao’s legs, but he says he saw it happening.

Pacquiao’s movement in the fight was nonexistent in terms of him using his side to side movement that his trainer Roach had been saying he would use. Instead of using the side to movement when making his attacks, Pacquiao was coming in straight lines right down Mayweather’s throat. That was a plan that was doomed to failure because there was no way Pacquiao could beat Mayweather by straight into the teeth of his offense. Pacquiao frequently found himself eating straight right hands when he would forward. I don’t think Pacquiao ever used any angles in the fight. It was all primitive straight ahead attacks all night long.

“Mayweather’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who worked with Pacquiao before when he had a glorious run of victories that shook the boxing world, told the Standard he noticed the Pacman’s cornermen massaging his legs feverishly in the middle rounds and believes that he was cramping up again as evidenced by his reduction in lateral movements and his failure to attack Mayweather from different angles,” according to the Manilastandardtoday.com.

I don’t believe that Pacquiao had cramps. If he did, I think that would have been one of the excuses that was offered up by Pacquiao and Roach at the post-fight press conference. Both Pacquiao and Roach were quick to make excuses about the loss at the conference, saying that Pacquiao had injured his right shoulder during training camp and that there had been two tears in the shoulder discovered upon him being examined by an MRI. If cramps were an issue as well, I think that would have been thrown in for good measure in order to show that Pacquiao wasn’t at full capacity last night.

Massaging fighter’s legs between rounds is a somewhat controversial thing, as some people believe that it causes legs to get weakened and rubbery, whereas others think it helps warm them up and circulate blood. If Pacquiao did have leg cramps last night, then massaging his legs would definitely be the thing to do in order to get rid of the cramps. However, with Roach and Pacquiao not saying anything about him having cramps last night, I tend not to believe that he had them.



Comments are closed.