Fighter success not simply due to trainer
Alex Ariza, a professional conditioning coach, is out to make a name for himself in the boxing world. Since 2008 he's has been molding boxing superstar Manny Pacquiao based on technologically advanced conditioning methods geared to enhance stamina and strength.
Based on those efforts, he's been able to distinguish himself more and more in title from the traditionally all-important role of trainer, but no less in importance.
It goes without saying that in boxing, there’s no substitute for the trainer-fighter relationship. But today that kind of romanticized version of the trainer-fighter relationship simply doesn’t fit with reality. For one, the best fighters in the world today
don’t have a single be-all-end-all trainer. They have a highly-specialized team with a number of experts to aid in all facets of training. A diet specialist, conditioner, personal advisor, promoter and others assume different roles and comprise a fighter’s
camp. That's where Ariza comes in.
These days Ariza is in the Philippines helping “Pacman” build up his strength and stamina for his upcoming November bout with Antonio Margarito. And because Margarito is naturally the bigger, stronger man for the fight, Ariza’s role as conditioner is just
as vital—if not more—than head coach Freddie Roach’s in prepping Pacquiao.
Ariza recently opened up to Ring Magazine about his regimen and how he became involved with the seven-division titlist. He dealt first with the looming controversy at hand: whether or not Pacquiao was actually on PEDs (performance enhancing drugs).
“It’s a compliment,” Ariza retorted when asked the question. “We’re doing such a good job, people just can’t understand it. They think it has to be something else. It HAS to be. People think overnight he (Pacquiao) turned into this relentless monster. But
it took him two years to get to this point. The truth is that it’s just hard work, and we have a great team.”
Ariza said that he and Roach ultimately use scientific reasoning to help get Manny into top-top form. It’s never simply a question of training adequately. It’s about training based on specific goals in mind, and training in ways proven to develop specific
muscle groups for specific purposes. In this case, fighting a bigger guy, Ariza broke down the way he sees Pacquiao winning the fight, and how he came to the conclusion: “We saw with Kelly Pavlik when he tried to move up in weight, he lost everything. He
went flat, he couldn’t move, he couldn’t get up. Science has to play a role in a sport that has an old-school mentality. That’s why Freddie Roach is such an exceptional trainer [...] He knows that just running five miles a day is not going to cut it, especially
being such an offensive trainer that he is. You have to have that high intensity, that high level of efficiency to be able to carry out his kind of game plan.”
Ariza said that Pacquiao is an even harder case, because putting six pounds on him is like putting “20 pounds on a normal person.”
Ariza, with a degree in nutritional science, added that Pacquiao is kept on a number of protein enhanced shakes and over the counter herbal supplements. As well, to prepare for Margarito and to build muscle, he’s forced to eat every two hours, hungry or
not. In fact he has Pacquiao consuming 7,000 calories a day. The routine has a strange negative effect on the fighter: “Manny tells me, ‘You know when I grew up, I never ate. Now I’m eating all the time and I’m miserable.’”
But while Ariza says there are downsides now, his success rate with Pacman is undeniable. He spoke about how he came to boxing, saying: Boxing offered me a forum, a niche, where I could apply my own theories, my own concepts, my own way of what I thought
was more important, recovery vs. muscle failure. I thought boxing was that place where I could have that opportunity.”
Tags: