"I told you that was the blueprint for Manny Pacquiao, man, and I've always said that. Manny needs to train, whether you want to hear it or you don't want to hear it, it's my way. For Cotto, there was a fear factor there...a very legitimate puncher, a good boxer; come on, Miguel Cotto in the day was a package, so there was a legitimate fear factor. Manny, you know, it's one of those things where he looked for somebody to give him guidance and training for that fight, both physically and strength-wise...So he took it to the next level," stated world-class strength & conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who gave us an update from Baguio now that Manny Pacquiao has arrived to officially begin training camp. Check out what else he had to say!
BT: Alex, what's up bro? I see Manny is in Baguio with you guys now.
AA: He's here, dude. He got here late last night, man. We sat down and talked.
BT: Before I get into that, how's everything going with Amir?
AA: Dude, I've been killing Amir. He's just been sleeping. He sleeps from the morning until the afternoon and when he comes back, he goes right back to bed (laughing).
BT: (Laughing) Damn. Yeah, I saw on Twitter you were talking about how hard you've been working him.
AA: I tried to break him, man. Usually I never really have to beef these guys up, especially Amir, but he really said he felt Peterson's weight, among the other distractions and stuff, with Amir getting engaged and having to lose a few pounds the day before the fight, which kind of hurt us, so this time, we're not going to make any mistakes.
BT: Speaking of shedding a few pounds, I'm not sure if you saw the Rios/Abril fight, but what did you think when you heard Rios missed weight again?
AA: You know, here's the thing, if Rios wants, let me show you how to get to 135. Not only will I guarantee that he'll make 135 and be an animal the next night, I'll even do it for free if he's not. Everybody is saying he's just not a 135-pounder. He is. A guy with a body like that, trust me, you're a 135-pounder bro. He just needs help. His job is just to be a fighter. He needs a professional to handle the science of making weight.
BT: Can you tell just by looking at a guy that he's not doing things the right way?
AA: I can tell you this because I know from experience. Diego Corrales used to be the same way. Now, the closest comparison I have is look at Julio; look at his old fights. Soft around the middle, no defintion, no muscle symmetry, no balance muscle-wise, and now look at him. He wasn't able to make 160 back then. Why he is making 159 now? Look at his body and look at the way he's performing. Without doing obviously what I normally do, the whole body composition thing, I can just tell by looking at Brandon that 135 pounds is still there and if he would do it right, he would be a machine, dude. He'd be a very, very dangerous man; he'd be very hard to deal with because his energy level would be different, his strength would be different, his mental confidence about being able to push himself harder, harder, and harder each round would completely change his whole game because he'd know he wouldn't be tired. He wouldn't go through that drasticness that he goes through to cut weight. He's a great fighter and a great warrior. He just doesn't know the scientific approach to getting ready for a fight. He has a great trainer in Garcia, he just needs to apply the other part.
BT: You could tell it had an effect on him during the fight too.
AA: It's a mental thing, dude. When you know you kill yourself like that, you know that you got very little reserves in the gas. You gotta be very, very careful and you gotta be efficient with your punch output, you know? You can't just let shit fly, and Brandon is one of those guys, man, it's his pressure and his punch volume, that's what makes him so dangerous, but if he's constantly thinking in the back of his head, "Can I push it this round? Should I push it this round," what happens in rounds 9, 10, 11 and 12 when it's the most important? But just looking at him physically, I can tell that it's not done right. When I first saw Julio, I think when we fought Cotto, he was in the locker room next to us and I saw him warming up and I just saw his skin shaking all over, you know, and they said, "Man, we were thinking about maybe letting you help him." Let me show you what I can do with that kind of body. I love those kinds of challenges, man, because I know that what I do is so drastically changing and so completely different. Now you see how he is. Now he got mentally over that hump of not wasting energy, not wasting punches, you know, being economical with his punch output.
BT: Do you handle the nutrition and dieting aspect of it all too?
AA: Of course, bro. Of course. That's 80% of the game, man.
BT: Well I figured you had a hand in it, but I didn't know if you were actually preparing the meals and stuff or if you were just telling them what to eat.
AA: Well, you know, fortunately for Julio, we have an amazing chef, Hector. He's an amazing chef. He's one of those chefs that will write exactly what the menu looks like, you know? He's not a chef who's going to try and spice it up. He does it exact, and that's what you need to have because with guys that you're trying to get that big, it's very, very important that they stick to the hour when the meal is supposed to be served and exactly how the meal is supposed to come. No extras. No extra spice, no extra sides; it has to be that meticulous, bro.
BT: So are you actually making the decisions on the meals themselves, is the chef coming up with suggestions, or is it like a joint effort?
AA: With Julio and Amir, I make those decisions. With Manny, it's a little different.
BT: I know Manny's been doing some working out on his own already. Is he still on board with going back to doing things the way you guys used to do?
AA: We had a conversation in the car and he says, "I want to go back to how we trained for Cotto." And I told you that was the blueprint for Manny Pacquiao, man, and I've always said that. Manny needs to train, whether you want to hear it or you don't want to hear it, it's my way. For Cotto, there was a fear factor there. We had a big fucking welterweight, a very legitimate puncher, a good boxer; come on, Miguel Cotto in the day was a package, so there was a legitimate fear factor. Manny, you know, it's one of those things where he looked for somebody to give him guidance and training for that fight, both physically and strength-wise. That's why he was like, "Okay. I gotta trust somebody. I gotta trust something because what I'm doing, I know isn't going to help me for this fight." So he took it to the next level.
BT: So the difference between training for the Cotto fight and training for the Mosley fight, was it a difference in intensity or...
AA: (Cutting in) Night and day, bro. Night and day.
BT: Sounds like Manny doesn't have too much fun to look forward to in the next few weeks (laughing).
AA: I told him, I said, "Dude, I'm only going to preach this once to you and I'm never going to say another word about it for the rest of the camp. Either you get up and do what I ask you to do and what I want you to do or you don't." I mean, Amir...I wish you were here to see him. These guys are 160-170 pounds he's sparring with.
BT: I saw some pictures of him that he posted on Twitter. He looks like he's bulked up some.
AA: Yeah, he's bulked up. He bulked up, bro. We haven't started the speed and the quickness and the explosive phase yet; right now we're just getting the strength down. It's just like building a linebacker, man. You want to be quick and explosive, but when it comes to putting your head down and banging it out, the strenght's gotta be there. It's in phases. You work the strength phase, the conditioning phase, and then you work on the speed and quickness and balance and stuff. My approach to training is differe, for sure.
BT: So is Manny and Amir going to be doing their conditioning together then or are you guys going to split that up so they're doing it individually?
AA: I like to split those kinds of things up because when you run a circuit like that, it's very, very important. When you turn your back, that's when they get a chance to cheat, take a shortcut, you know, not focus on the things that I need you to focus on, which are the things that are probably going to burn you out quicker and faster and harder. It's better if I just keep them separate. The sooner that these guys accept the fact...like I said, it's very, very hard for people to swallow the fact that strength and conditioning is the key to your performance. The second that you accept that fact and just take it in and realize that that's the way it's going to be and it's going to be fucking hard, then you take your game to the next level. But if you think that boxing and hitting the mitts and hitting the heavy bag is going to help you in a fight, it's not going to do shit for you in a fight.
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