Roach hides behind his illness, claims Ariza

MANILA, Philippines – Former Team Pacquiao member Alex Ariza took full responsibility for his role in the scuffle that occurred between trainer Freddie Roach and members of Brandon Rios’ team.

At the same time, he also accused the Hall-of-Fame trainer of hiding behind his illness.

Roach, the chief trainer of Manny Pacquiao who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, confronted Rios’ trainer, Robert Garcia, at a gym in Macau on Wednesday. The two wound up exchanging words, and Ariza eventually got involved.

A former strength and conditioning coach of Pacquiao, Ariza wound up kicking Roach in the chest and exchanging insults with him. The two were eventually separated, but Ariza was caught on video mocking Roach’s Parkinson’s and mimicking his stutter.

“I take responsibility for what I did 100%,” Ariza told Boxing Scene the next day. “I know what I said, and I know what I did. I can’t take it back. It was at the heat of the moment.”

Ariza reiterated what he had said in interviews following the incident – that he had acted in self-defense.

“I did what I did because he accosted me, he got close. I know Freddie Roach for six years, and I know he has a tendency to be aggressive. If he did it again, I’d do it again, too,” he said.

“There’s one thing that anger brings out, is the truth,” he added. “He (Roach) hides behind that whole Parkinson’s gig, not to demean Parkinson’s. He feels very threatened.”

“People gave me a lot of credit for Manny’s rise. It’s sad. It’s transparent. He’s at the end of the road, and this is his way of trying to hang on to what popularity he has,” Ariza said.

Roach fired Ariza from Team Pacquiao earlier this year, and the strength and conditioning trainer was subsequently hired by Garcia to work with Rios.

Pacquiao, who was not at the scene at the time of the altercation, called for calm when asked about the issue at a press conference.

“No trash-talking before the fight,” he said. “It’s not a good example for those who follow boxing.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Roach, Garcia, Ariza in scuffle in Macau gym

 Although there are still a couple of days to go before the big fight, the corner men of welterweight boxers Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Brandon “Bam Bam” Rios got the fireworks started early when they engaged in an altercation at the gym in the Venetian Hotel in Macau.

Freddie Roach, the trainer of Pacquiao, confronted his counterpart Robert Garcia at the gym Wednesday while the trainer of Rios was being interviewed by a Filipino reporter.

Elie Seckbach of ESNews was able to provide a video of the incident, which quickly escalated and resulted in Roach being pushed and mocked, as racial and homophobic slurs were exchanged.

Radio Rahim was also able to interview not only Roach and Garcia, but also Alex Ariza, who later got involved in the scuffle.

Roach was first seen in the background while Garcia was being interviewed. The Hall-of-Fame trainer eventually approached Garcia to ask him to leave the gym.

“We have the gym at 11 o’clock,” Roach said, to which Garcia replies “I ain’t going nowhere.”

Roach then repeatedly tried to get Garcia to leave, and Garcia can be heard saying: “I ain’t no piece of sh*t.”

Roach then dared the members of Team Rios to “throw me out,” as one person shouted at him to “Get the (expletive) out of here. This ain’t Wild Card (Roach’s gym in Los Angeles).”

At that point, Ariza, a former strength and condition trainer of Pacquiao who now works with Rios, entered the scuffle and Roach was seen being pushed back. Roach later revealed that Ariza kicked him in the chest.

Ariza can later be heard saying: “Mind you (expletive) business, you’re a (expletive) joke,” while also calling Roach a homophobic slur. He also repeatedly mocked Roach’s Parkinson’s disease, mimicking the trainer’s stutter while daring him to get inside the ring that was in the middle of the gym.

Meanwhile, Garcia lambasted Roach for his disrespect and claimed that Pacquiao’s trainer hurled a racial slur at one of his team members.

“Dude calls me a piece of sh*t. I admire what he’s done in boxing, and now he’s (expletive) calling me a piece of sh*t,” Garcia said. “Roach, now it’s personal, (expletive). (Expletive) you.”

“Hopefully you guys (the media) caught that. He (Roach) calls him a stupid Mexican, too,” Garcia said, pointing to a member of Team Rios.

Rios, meanwhile, stayed out of sight throughout the entire incident and was later seen running on the treadmill. His only comment was to say, “Oh, kill him,” after Roach left the scene.

Pacquiao was not in the gym at the time of the incident.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Fortune won't be able to help Pacquiao

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao has tapped conditioning coach Justin Fortune to take the place of his former strength trainer Alex Ariza.

Unfortunately for Pacquiao, Fortune won’t be able to fly to the Philippines.

Top Rank’s Bob Arum told Philboxing’s Ronnie Nathanielsz that the Australian conditioning coach is having problems securing his visa.

“It looks like he won’t come not because he doesn’t want to come or people don’t want him to come because Freddie Roach wants him to come, it's just the problem of adjusting his visa which is a little complicated,” said Arum.

Pacquiao was looking forward to working with Fortune again after mending fences with boxing trainer Freddie Roach.

Fortune was the Filipino boxer’s former strength trainer before Ariza came into the picture.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Ariza still considers Pacquiao a friend

MANILA, Philippines – Manny Pacquiao’s former conditioning coach Alex Ariza claims he still considers the Filipino superstar a friend despite his decision to team up with Pacman’s opponent, Brandon Rios.

The controversial strength coach was recently hired by Rios’ camp to work on the Mexican-American’s conditioning following his falling out with Team Pacquiao.

But Ariza pointed out that he didn’t join Team Rios to get back at Pacquiao.

"As far as the personal thing, I still consider [Pacquiao] a friend," Ariza told Ring.tv’s Ryan Songalia.

"I don't have a vendetta or want any kind of reciprocity. It's just I have to come here now, I have a new fighter and a new responsibility and my job is to win. That's what I'm here for,” he explained.

Ariza added that his main task as Rios’ conditioning coach is to make sure that the boxer will maintain his punching power and reflexes despite making a weight climb to welterweight.

He assured that his work doesn’t deal with Rios’ strategies against Pacquiao.

"Brandon is going to fight his fight and he's going to stick to Robert and whatever his strategy is," he said.

"It's not like they brought me out here to sit me down and go, 'Well, how does Manny move to the right? How does Manny move to the left?' Nobody does that.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

'Worst thing Pacquiao can do is underestimate Rios'

MANILA – The worst thing Manny Pacquiao can do in his comeback fight is to underestimate the dangerous Brandon Rios, said conditioning coach Alex Ariza.

In Ariza’s opinion, the 27-year-old Rios seems to be a formidable opponent who can withstand harsh punishment in the ring.

He also told veteran sportscaster Ronnie Nathanielsz that the Mexican brawler can also throw a mean punch.

“Rios is very durable, I think he punches harder than [Juan Manuel] Marquez,” said Ariza, who is credited for helping Pacquiao make his successful climb to the welterweight ranks through his scientific approach in conditioning his athletes.

Ariza, meanwhile, admitted that he remains clueless about his status with Pacquiao.

Pacquiao said he is no longer working with the conditioning coach since his trainer Freddie Roach fired Ariza.

“I haven’t heard anything from Manny. How can Freddie fire me when I don’t work for him? Everybody knows that the past two years I haven’t worked for Freddie,” he said.

“I will give Manny a call and talk to him but you just never know.”

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com