In the first part of my interview with Alex Ariza I went back three years to when the Columbia native was living in Las Vegas and was met with the great opportunity of working with trainer Freddie Roach in Los Angeles. Ariza conceded that he learned much from studying Roach inside the Wild Card Gym and recounted the electric atmosphere inside of the building.
In the second part of my interview with Ariza we turn our attention to his relationship with reigning WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao. The Filipino star is considered by many to be the world?s premier fighter due to his great success in recent years while rising in weight and Ariza was happy to share his close bond with the fighter. Ariza also touched on the impact that Pacquiao has outside of the ring as well as his thoughts on a possible matchup with undefeated Floyd Mayweather Jr. later this year.
In his own words this is what Ariza had to say?
Waiting for my chance? ?Manny had hurt his shoulder in the Marquez fight in camp. I just felt like I was one of those players sitting on the bench waiting for my chance. Freddie called me over and he says ?Do you know anything about shoulders?? and I said ?Absolutely?. He told me that his shoulder popped out, he had a dislocation on his right shoulder. They stopped his sparring and I wasn?t sure what was going on there yet but it was my shot. We sat down and I went to work on that shoulder and that my first time. Every night at 7 PM I would go to Manny?s house and give him treatment on the shoulder.?
Changing everything? ?I started talking to him more and more and he disclosed things to me that I didn?t know. He started asking questions about certain things. He said that after he fought Barrera the second time that he had been having severe pains. He said that he felt that he didn?t have power and he didn?t have strength like he used to. He said that he couldn?t move, he couldn?t get on his toes, and I said that he had to change everything and he couldn?t just continue doing the same thing over and over again. If you don?t do that then you don?t evolve. A lot of those things are shoulder problems and right before the Diaz fight Freddie came to me asked what we should do. I told him what I thought and we sat down with Manny and we started putting a plan together. That?s when we first started thinking of moving up in weight.?
Inside of the ring? ?I think inside the ring I appreciate the same thing that everybody else does. He?s relentless and I think he was just born with that warrior mentality. And it doesn?t matter to him whether or not his cultural status would have come about, he still never lost that. I think that?s what I admire about him so much. He?s a multi-millionaire and congressman but anytime he jumps in the ring he does a prayer. You saw it in the Cotto fight. He was getting hit and he had a busted cartilage in his left ear. His left ear was swollen but he didn?t care. He just kept going and going and going. He didn?t care about himself, he cares about the fight.?
A true ambassador? ?Outside of the ring I don?t think people can say anything more than he is a true ambassador of humanity. Unfortunately what the 24/7 series failed to show is that there are hundreds of people a day who come to him looking for aid. All you have to do is show a doctor?s note or prescription for medication or something that a child needs surgery. Manny foots the bill for that. I saw hundreds of files that his friend would bring in stating that this kids needs surgery or this kid needs this, and if it is a valid doctor?s note than Manny will pay for it. The Philippines may not have a welfare system but they have Manny.?
Reacting to the PED allegations that have been thrown against the Wild Card Gym? ?Honestly it is a compliment. Every time we come here to the gym we know what we do and we know the work we put in. On the flipside it is a little hard because you look at guys like Vanes Martirosyan and Amir Khan and these guys kill themselves and somehow it is diminished by the accusations that they have been using performance enhancers. That affects me but on the flipside it?s like they are doing such a great job and looking so phenomenal that the overall assumption is that they have to be juicing. In reality we know that we are doing the work here. And there have been a lot of fighters who have come and gone. There have been fighters who have come through those doors. Everybody knows when you walk into Wild Card there is no special patients, it?s about hard work. And if you can?t cut it you end up going home. Look at Chavez Jr. He?s been here for weeks and he is doing it. He made a choice but does that mean he is juicing? No it means he wants it. You have to give the fighters the credit.?
Sizing up Floyd Mayweather Jr?. ?I take nothing away from Floyd, really. What he does he does very well. He can control you with the jab, he can control you with the tempo of the fight. Those are the things he does well. He?s a conditioned fighter, he can fight twelve rounds and he is smart. He thinks in there. He?s a decent fighter.?
What it comes down to? ?The problem I see is that Manny is relentless. If you don?t let Mayweather control the tempo of the fight and you take control of it, that will give him problems. He doesn?t do well with speed and Mosley touched him whenever he wanted to touch him. Mayweather isn?t a guy who takes chances. He does just enough to secure a win. I felt he had all kinds of opportunities against Marquez but he didn?t take them. He could have knocked out Mosley but he didn?t do it. Maybe he just doesn?t want to take the risk to take the punishment. In order to hit somebody you have to get hit. That?s what it comes down to. I don?t know if he is willing to put that on the line. On the other hand, Manny is willing to put that on the line and he doesn?t care.?
Waiting for a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather clash? ?You know I leave that to them. At this point I really don?t know. I know as much as anybody to be honest. You only know what you read. I hope the fight happens for boxing, for the fans. I think it would be one of the most epic events ever in the sports world. There are two guys who are out there and I know our guy wants it.?
