Freddie Roach to Pacquiao: Get rid of Ariza – Boxing News
Alex Ariza, Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, left Pacquiao’s Baguio City camp without informing roach. Ariza’s decision irked Roach badly and now the Hall of Famer coach believes it is about time for Pacquiao to quit on Ariza.
Ariza, who was responsible to take care of Pacquiao, chose to be with his other fighter. Commenting on the issue, Roach said, “I'm going to suggest to Manny that we maybe get rid of him or I get a new strength coach.”
On the other hand, Pacquiao believes there was no problem in Ariza’s leaving. When asked, the WBO welterweight champion said, “The media, they're making a big issue of that, but Alex asked permission to me if I'm okay if he goes back to LA and wait here.
If I don't agree, he's not going to leave, but I gave him permission to leave.”
As an explanation, Ariza said, “When I spoke to Manny and we had our conversation, he just said, 'You're only going to be gone really for a couple of weeks.' It's not like I left in the heart of training or two weeks before, or I left for a whole camp.”
Ariza added that Pacquiao gave him the permission to go and help his other fighter and that he will see him in Los Angeles.
Although the decision did not annoy Pacquiao, it surely made Roach furious. Roach added that his top two fighters, Amir Khan and Manny Pacquiao, were there but instead Ariza chose to go and work with Chavez Jr.
Roach further said that he had warned Ariza that his move is not the right thing to do. However, Roach added that he did not want to force Ariza into staying there since Ariza is a grown up man and he should know how to prioritize stuff.
Roach believes that the only thing that is making them hold onto him is that he is excellent at his job. Roach said that Alex is a great conditioning coach but he wants to be the trainer as well which makes him lose focus.
For now, there is no news as to whether Pacquiao will fire Ariza or not.
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