Some believe that, with his Evangelical turn to righteous conduct, that Manny Pacquiao saved his marriage. Now I’m wondering, with matters between he and wife Jinkee fine on the domestic front, whether Pacquiao’s boxing staff is a house divided.
You cycnics, and I am often in your company, may say, well, Freddie Roach speaking on the the HBO 24/7 series about possibly urging Boss Pacman to can conditoning guru Alex Ariza, the controversial Colombian, is just prefight pap aimed at hyping Manny’s June 9 bout at the MGM Grand against unbeaten upstart Tim Bradley. I think that, once this fight is over, Pacquiao needs to set his squabbling staff straight or make some changes. If it comes down to choosing Roach or Ariza, with one staying and one moving on, the smart money bets on the assistant getting canned and Head Coach Roach remaining in place. But who says one must go and one must stay? What matters is what Paymaster Pacquiao says. Roach had great stature in boxing long before Pacquiao showed up at the Wild Card Gym. Ariza was on the fringes in boxing before he started rising MP’s coattails. Not only did Ariza become well known, his attachment to Pacman got him lucrative gigs working for Amir Khan and Julio Cesar Chavez, Jr., both of whom have recently separated themselves from AA. Roach, of course, is the boss with the hot (training) sauce for the Brit Khan and for the Mexican son of the idol, Chavez. It would clearly be in Ariza’s self interest to soothe Roach’s ruffled feathers and to concentrate on his conditioning duties and to not play at being a cutman, a manager or a promoter. I think Pacquiao could care less about Ariza’s constant verbal sniping at promoter Bob Arum. It may chafe Arum but Uncle Bob treads gently when it comes to his cash cow. Indeed, Arum may view Ariza’s bombast as just more fuel for the promotional fire. At age 80, Arum is not easily appalled. Sticks and stones could break his elderly bones but namecalling from a conditioning guru will never hurt his dinosuar hide. If there is “real beef” within the Pacquiao camp, it won’t be agent Michael Koncz who settles it. Koncz has adopted a neutral stance, like Switzerland when it comes to war. But Koncz won’t go against Roach, either. You might think this internal dissent will harm Pacquiao’s fight night peformance but he’s like Muhammad Ali in the sense that an internal, infernal sideshow in his own camp seems to be more of an amusement than an annoyance. As long as Pacman looks good against Bradley, all hands will be on deck for Pacquiao’s Chpater 4 bout against Juan Manuel Marquez. Ariza’s not getting thrown or even gently pushed overboard unless… Unless the S.S. Pacquiao goes down on June 9. If that happens, run for the lifeboats and, remember, women and children first.
