?Nothing is certain but death and taxes,? pondered Big Steve as we embarked on a trail hike through Griffith Park: ?Would criminal charges brought up against Manny Pacquiao in a tax matter affect his mind set and preparation for a major fight on June 9th??
Pound for pound king of sweet science, Manny Pacquiao is scheduled to defend his welterweight title against undefeated American, Timothy Bradley on June 9th at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Pacquiao has been widely criticized in the media for lack of hunger and focus and the latest developments with brought up criminal charges only add fuel to the fire.
“I am not affected. That is nothing to me,” said Pacquiao in a recent interview:”I have been reading the bible to gain strength and inspiration. I am still focused and I won’t allow these issues to affect my concentration.”
Pacman?s last two outings in 2011 against Shane Mosley and Juan Manuel Marquez lacked concentration and have left his loyal fans wishing for more. Pacquiao had leg cramps in both fights that hindered his performance. A man who took a large part of the blame for that was Pacman?s strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza. Can Alex Ariza help Manny get back on track?
?We’ll focus first two or three weeks just on strength and conditioning,? said Ariza who came to work with Manny in Philippines before the official training camp begins on April 16th:?I think Manny is going to have to motivate himself. I know that he is a little disappointed in the way his last two fights went, the problems with legs and things like that. We’ve got to go back to train the way we used to when we didn’t have problems.? Pacquiao dominated Mosley last May but was criticized for not closing the show and allowing veteran from Pomona to finish the fight on his feet. Loyal Pacquiao fans held their collective breath last November before they learned that Manny squeaked by Juan Manuel Marquez once again with a razor thin majority decision win. Most of ringside observers felt that Marquez won the fight .Leg cramps were brought up once again.
?I think he just focused too much on boxing and not enough on strength and conditioning,? said Ariza when asked about Marquez fight. Pacquiao?s trusted Coach, Freddie Roach assured me that he would send Manny to the best medical doctors in Los Angeles to address this issue
?We had addressed it,? exclaimed Ariza when I asked him about leg cramp problems:? Did you see any problems when he fought De La Hoya, Hatton, Cotto, and Margarito? No you didn’t. When he wanted to change things against Mosley we had them. When he wanted to do his own thing against Marquez, it was even worse. So let’s go back to doing things the old way.? The old way Manny Pacman Pacquiao was able to transform from and aggressive puncher in the ring into a global super star. As he became larger than life distractions and problems mounted.
