Alex Ariza joins forces with Floyd Mayweather, Jr.?
Floyd Mayweather seems to have joined forces with Alex Ariza, after the WBA and WBC champion posted a picture on Shots, the social media website, of Alex Ariza stretching him before his 3am run. This comes as a surprise especially after Ariza’s shaky past, in which he was linked indirectly to Brandon Rios’ failed drug test after the Manny Pacquiao bout, where he tested positive for the illegal substance known as dimenthylamylamine or DMAA.
Floyd Mayweather invited Alex Ariza to his camp in a tongue in cheek moment last month, yet not many expected it to take place. Floyd Mayweather has spoken loudly of drug testing in the sport yet this move seems to have eyebrows raised. The fact that Ariza was the conditioner for Robert Garcia’s fighters might indicate mind games being played by Floyd Mayweather in an attempt to gain the upper hand in the mental side of things leading up to their fight on Sept 6. Ariza was the conditioning coach for Maidana and had a good relationship with Robert Garcia, yet their split raised many questions as Garcia and his fighters were seeing a prominent increase in success.
There is no doubt Alex Ariza is one of the biggest sport and renowned conditioning coach’s in the sport of boxing although there has been a stench of underhandedness following him. Ariza is famously known for coaching Manny Pacquiao through his peak days and also whilst Amir Khan was on the rise, working very closely with Freddie Roach.
Since then Ariza joined the Robert Garcia team, in which he contributed to the rise of the team in the boxing world. After working with fighters such as Brandon Rios and Marcos Maidana, he parted ways with Robert Garcia in June of this year due to what Garcia stated as “little differences”.
Freddie Roach had previously called Ariza a “shady” character as he has stated previously that the conditioning coach used to give Pacquiao a drink and when questioned by Roach what the drink consisted of, Ariza would refuse to comment on the details of it. You can take this with a pinch of salt as this was revealed by Roach after the split between the pair.
Ariza was in the limelight when Brandon Rios tested positive for the illegal substance known as dimenthylamylamine or DMAA in December 2013. DMAA is a drug known for cutting down weight. Ariza went on to disregard as blame towards him, although his role as a conditioning coach is to monitor everything his fighter consumes. He had failed with this part of his job specification and therefore the finger pointing could be seen as justified.
If Floyd Mayweather has taken Alex Ariza on as a conditioning coach, this will be seen my many as going against the anti-drugs preaching especially after Ariza has been linked to such suspicious events in the past. There is nothing to indicate that Ariza is a cheat yet his antics have not given him the greatest of reputations.
It will be interesting how much Ariza will be involved with Floyd Mayweather although if they are to team up, it could just be a way to win the mental games by Mayweather although someone like him doesn’t need to go to such extent for the sake of winning a mental battle.
Maybe Mayweather feels it is this time of his career where he needs a strength and conditioning coach, as he looks to continue his unbeaten streak until he crosses the line when he retires. His age and the amount of rounds in the ring may be catching up to him although he has shown in fights that his conditioning is to the highest level as he has outperformed many fighters without looking fatigued.
This situation is very interesting and see how it develops as it has caught many by surprise.
– Oun Abbas Hussain / @ouney86
UK Editor for Behind the Gloves.com
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