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Rob Smith: Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza thinks Pacquiao is looking really good in his training camp for his fight against
Juan Manuel Marquez next month on December 8th. However, Ariza doesn’t see that as having a real meaning because he’s seen how Pacquiao looks good in training and then struggles when he gets in the ring with Marquez.
Ariza said to the Boxing Channel “I think Manny always looks good in camp, but then it comes to fight night, he falls apart.”
Roach needs to change Pacquiao’s game around to make his fighting style a little less predictable because Marquez has said that he knows what Pacquiao is going to do in the ring. Pacquiao does the same things over and over again, and that is part of his problem in his fights against Marquez.
Ariza says that Pacquiao isn’t following the old strength and conditioning program that Ariza had for him in the past when Pacquiao was at his best. Pacquiao stopped following the program after his win over Miguel Cotto in 2009, and since then he’s stepped back and not had the full program.
This training camp is no different. Ariza says the emphasis is on boxing technique rather than the strength and conditioning program that he’d like Pacquiao to go back. Ariza is still working on Pacquiao’s conditioning and strength, but just not to the extent that he once did.
It’s unclear whether it would help Pacquiao to go back to his old training regimen with Ariza, because Pacquiao struggled in 2008, and it didn’t seem to matter. Marquez’s boxing skills were able to negate Pacquiao’s conditioning.
Ariza says he has someone working on Pacquiao to prevent him from suffering leg cramps, which has been a problem for Pacquiao for the past couple of years in his fights.
