By Jerome Wilson: Alex Ariza already is coming with the knockout predictions for Manny Pacquiao in his big fight with Timothy Bradley on June 9th. Ariza, Pacquiao’s high visibility strength and conditioning coach who assists the Filipino star with his conditioning, is convinced that Pacquiao can obliterate the 28-year-old Timothy Bradley (28-0, 12 KO’s) if he follows his conditioning regimen for the fight.
Speaking with Philstar.com, Ariza remarked “How he trains will impact how he does against Bradley. If he trains properly, Manny could blow that guy [Bradley] out in less than five rounds.”
Five rounds, huh? I’m just wondering why Ariza didn’t come out with his 1st round knockout prediction like the one he had for Manny over Juan Manuel Marquez last November. That was supposed to have been an easy fight for Pacquiao, but what we saw was Marquez making Pacquiao look utterly clueless, missing his shots and getting hammered by Marquez’s counter punches. Pacquiao won that fight, but the boxing public pretty much ignored the two judges that gave Pacquiao the win and saw it as a victory for Marquez.
Ariza wants to put Pacquiao through his entire training regimen, as he feels that Pacquiao has gotten away from that in his last two fights against Shane Mosley and Marquez.
Ariza says “We used to work out a specific training regimen…but against Sugar Shane Mosley and Marquez…he did things his own way. Manny wasn’t the same. In both fights, he suffered leg cramps.”
So, Ariza wants to put Pacquiao on the hold training regimen that he had for his fights before the Mosley and Marquez fights. What Ariza seems to be missing is that Pacquiao didn’t look sensational even before his last two fights. Pacquiao didn’t look like the same fighter in the Joshua Clottey and Antonio Margarito fights either. What’s Ariza’s excuse for those fights? Pacquiao was following Ariza’s regimen, wasn’t he? Something had changed in his ability to move between the Miguel Cotto and Joshua Clottey fight. Pacquiao hasn’t looked even nearly as good as he did in the Cotto fight. It’s like watching two different fighters. He walks around the ring and can’t move as quick with his in and out attacks.