A few weeks short of his “Super Bowl” fight against Pinoy Idol Manny Pacquiao on May 2, Mayweather hosted an open workout at his Las Vegas gym Tuesday night.
Naturally, there was no sparring and no Mayweather camp “secrets” were spilled. The workout served its purpose which was to act as an infomercial for a fight which supposedly needs no hype.
Going through his daily paces, Mayweather hit the speed bag, the heavy bag and worked the mitts with his uncle and former world champ Roger Mayweather. Mayweather also practiced body punching on the large lower body of assistant trainer Nate Jones.
The only even slightly incendiary remarks heard on the webcast came from Alex Ariza, the conditioning coach who is regarded as a Benedict Arnold in the Pacquiao camp after switching his allegiance.
Ariza took pointed jabs at both Pacman, his former employer, and at Manny’s celebrated trainer, Coach Freddie Roach.
“Once Manny tastes his power, we’ll see who is going to run…If Floyd sees the opportunity, I think he will finish him off… “This is about the fighters, not about the coaches,” Ariza said. “There’s no mind games.”
As for critical remarks Roach has made about him, Ariza said: “He’s trying to stay relevant. He’s at the end of his career and he’s trying to stay relevant.”
The fitness adviser said the Pacquiao camp never changes the fighter’s routine and such lack of creativity contributed to Pacquiao’s KO loss to Juan Manuel Marquez.
“I look sat the last four performances,” Ariza said. “It’s the same routine, it’s just redundant.”
To throw even more salt in an open wound, Ariza claimed that Pacquiao never had cramping in his calves when he worked with the Filipino fighter. Such cramps have been a past issue in prior Pacman camps and even during bouts.
Pacquiao will hold a similar open to accredited media cum webcast Wednesday afternoon at Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood.
Look for Coach Roach to snap back at Ariza without hesitation.
