Pacquiao’s conditioning coach in hot water

By Al S. Mendoza

 

IS Alex Ariza trying to pull our legs?

He now wants Manny Pacquiao to leave Bob Arum.

And in what capacity that Ariza wields to even counsel Pacquiao on purely legal matters?

Ariza is Pacquiao’s conditioning expert—a good one if I may say so.

But then, it simply ends there.

Ariza doesn’t even have units in law which Arum has tons of.

For one, Arum is a Harvard law graduate.

For another, Arum has been in the boxing business for more than half a century.

Ariza isn’t even 10 years in the beak-busting bogey, I guess.

He wasn’t maybe born yet when Arum helped orchestrate the Ali-Frazier, Thrilla in Manila in October 1975.

Pacquiao first shacked up with Arum officially in 2006, after Pacquiao had knocked Erik Morales out in the third round of their fabled trilogy.

They’ve become inseparable since.

I know.  I was there in Las Vegas.

I covered the Pacquiao-Morales fight and after which, I saw Pacquiao sign a contract appointing Arum as his fight promoter.

That deal drew fireworks, courtesy of Oscar De La Hoya.

Just days before the Pacquiao-Arum pact, Pacquiao had struck a deal naming De La Hoya his fight promoter.

I guess I had written about it here already?

But what the heck.

It is worth retelling in the wake of Ariza’s indiscretion.

It happened this way.

De La Hoya met Pacquiao at the Los Angeles airport upon his arrival from Manila for Pacquiao-Morales III in November 2006.

In the limo en route to LA, De La Hoya pushed into Pacquao’s pocket a fat envelope containing half a million dollars.

“Man, what’s this for?” a stunned Pacquiao said.

“From now on, I will take care of your fights, man,” Oscar said to PacMan.

“Aww, OK,” said Pacquiao.

After destroying Morales in 2-1/2 minutes, Pacquiao was called to a private room at the Wynn Hotel by Arum.

“Congrats, Manny.  As usual, job well done,” said Arum to Pacquiao.  “Here’s something for you. Open it.”

Pacquiao did and he saw a million bucks in cold cash.

“What’s this for?” Pacquiao said.

“That’s for you,” said Arum.  “But first, return Oscar’s  money.”

“I can’t,” Pacquiao said.  “I signed a contract with him.”

“I’ll take care of that,” said Arum.  “Just return his money.”

The rest, as we say, is history.

De La Hoya made some noise in court; it amounted to nothing.

And now this, Ariza making his own noise.

Ariza’s job is on the line now.

If he doesn’t go make amends with Arum quick, Pacquiao might have a new conditioning coach in no time.

Pacquiao simply needs a physical trainer badly for his April 10 fight (PH time) against Timothy Bradley.

And, seemingly, Ariza’s name is not in the radar.

You mess up with Arum, good luck.

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