Pacman still at top of his game

MANILA, Philippines - WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao isn’t anywhere near the point of decline in his storybook boxing career but strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza is reserving judgment on how much longer he should fight until after his title defense against unbeaten Tim Bradley at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on June 9.

“Age isn’t a factor at this stage in Manny’s career,” said Ariza who is now in Baguio with trainer Freddie Roach and former IBF/WBA lightwelterweight titlist Amir Khan. “He’s young, athletic. He’s dominated the last four years and there’s not a lot of wear and tear in his body. The most he’s gotten hit was in the (Juan Manuel) Marquez fight last November.”

Ariza said the 33-year-old Pacquiao’s difficulty with Marquez was more physical than mental. “If the body isn’t responding then the mind gets affected,” he said. “There’s a lot of science involved in getting ready for a fight – new ways of training, eating healthy. It’s like a cellphone. Technology is advancing so fast that your cellphone today might be obsolete in six months. With Manny, he’s such a talented athlete that I think when he trains for a fight, sometimes the fear factor isn’t there anymore. That’s when a fighter gets complacent and doesn’t train as hard. I noticed that in Manny’s last two fights against (Sugar Shane) Mosley and Marquez. In those two fights, he suffered leg cramps.”

Ariza said no doubt, Pacquiao is still at the top of his game. “A fighter like Manny comes around only once in 15 years like an Oscar (de la Hoya) or before him, Sugar Ray Leonard,” continued Ariza. “Right now, there’s no one in boxing who can captivate the world like Manny. Julio (Cesar Chavez Jr.) has the ability to captivate a nation and he’s now doing that in Mexico. I think boxing experts are now just realizing how good Julio is. Throughout his career, he fought in the shadow of his father but now, he’s beginning to show he’s a real champion.”

Ariza said even as Pacquiao has a lot of mileage left, he respects the decision for the Filipino icon to hang up his gloves at the end of next year. “Of course, I’ll miss him when he retires but as a friend, I think it’s a good thing that he gets out when he can, unhurt and as the world’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter. Family is important and I know Manny has his family in mind. Manny’s a special person. He’s got a political career to attend to and he wants to devote himself to improving the lives of his countrymen.”

Asked how many more fights Pacquiao should do, Ariza said it depends on his performance against Bradley. “If Manny blows Bradley away in less than five rounds, believe me, fans will want to see more of him in action because he’s such an exciting fighter,” he said. “If it goes 12 rounds and Manny struggles, that’s a different thing. But if Manny takes his training seriously, I know he’ll blow Bradley away.”

Ariza said Pacquiao’s competitive spirit won’t allow him to slacken off in the gym. “Manny always wants to do better than his previous fight,” he said. “After watching a replay of his fight against Marquez, Manny told me he wants to go back to the training regimen that I laid out for him in preparing for guys like Oscar, (Ricky) Hatton and (Miguel) Cotto. Against Bradley, he’s got something to prove. I remember Manny playing darts. He got good at it with his left hand. But because he always challenges himself, he pushed himself to be good at it with his right hand, too. That’s just the way he is.”

Ariza said he realizes he’s not the most popular guy in Pacquiao’s team. “It’s the jealousy factor,” he said. “There’s a lot of back-stabbing going on. I think people are threatened by my presence. As far as I’m concerned, I just do my job the best way I know. I don’t care about what people say. My job is to get Manny ready physically for his fights. It’s the same thing I do with Amir and Julio.”

Ariza said sometimes, he finds himself isolated in boxing. “I went to school to be good at what I do,” he said. “A lot of fighters out there aren’t educated and resist the changes being introduced in scientific training. It’s fear of what they’re not used to, also lack of education. For instance, not too many people realize that the biggest challenge of a strength and conditioning coach is getting a fighter ready after the weigh-in, not before. Usually, a fighter gorges or drowns himself in fluids after making weight.  But you’ve got to use a scientific approach in rehydrating or else you get sluggish for the fight. You can’t take in too much but you can’t take in too little either.”