“Dude, I’m not privy to whatever they’re agreeing to, you know? I just know that Manny’s going to take whatever tests that the commission asks for. Have I heard anything about outside testing? Honestly dude, I haven’t heard them speak about outside testing ever. Manny has never asked me or mentioned anything to me about it. Behind closed doors, he’s never said to me one way or another that he cares or doesn’t care, to be honest with you. He’s never said no, he won’t do it, and he’s never said yes, he will do it, to me….To be honest, 100%, I don’t know if he agreed or did not agree. As far as I know from Manny, he’s never disagreed. From his mouth to my ears, it’s never seemed like that to me, so whatever reasons that fight’s not happening, it’s got nothing to do with Manny. That I can tell you,” stated strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who clarified comments he made while in the Philippines regarding questions about whether or not Manny Pacquiao is willing to take the additional blood and urine tests that Floyd Mayweather is now requesting of all of his opponents. Check out what else he had to say!
BT: How’s Linares doing? His fight’s coming up this weekend. I heard some reports that he and Manny were getting a little rough during sparring.
AA: Yeah, I mean, you know, it’s natural. You got a really fast, young guy, and, you know, Manny…you know, when two guys start sparring with each other enough, they get comfortable with each other. It’s natural. It’s what happens. These guys start to let their hands go a little bit and, you know, that’s all that happened. Nothing out of the ordinary. Typical stuff. I’ve seen it with a lot of fighters. People get caught, people get shook, and, you know, Manny’s a fucking heavy-handed, explosive guy, so you just gotta be on your toes with him. That’s all.
