It appears that promoter Bob Arum continues to flex his influence on who his fighters are allowed to work with when it comes to preparing for fights. According to world-class strength & conditioning coach Alex Ariza, Arum has now banned him from traveling with the Chavez Jr. camp. "No, Bob has excluded me from all travel with Julio," Ariza would post on his official Twitter page when asked if he was heading to El Paso, Texas for Chavez Jr.'s upcoming title defense this Saturday against Andy Lee.
An independent contractor, Ariza has been free to work with any fighter regardless of their promotional, managerial, or trainer relationships. Having worked with Chavez Jr. in previous fights, Ariza once again finalized a deal with him back in March to begin preparing him for the June 16th bout. "I had to go out to Mexico and get my deal finalized for Julio's next fight and get our camp stuff in order," he would explain in an interview with FightHype. It was at that time when Ariza also revealed his plans to return early from Pacquiao's camp in the Philippines to begin working with Chavez Jr.
"I'll be back the third week of April. Chavez will be starting camp shortly after that. He's doing a 10-week camp. He'll be starting training a little bit early. Right now it's still undecided whether or not Chavez will be training in Las Vegas or Los Angeles," Ariza continued. We would later learn that Chavez Jr. would decide to train in Las Vegas, a decision that, according to sources, was reportedly made only after Arum reportedly purchased a residency in the city for Julio.
Since then, Arum has made it as difficult as possible for Ariza to continue working with Chavez Jr. Upon arriving at Top Rank Gym to beginning working with Chavez Jr., Ariza would learn that he was banned from the premises and warned that if he was found there, Arum would have him arrested for trespassing. FightHype would learn from sources connected with the Mayweather Camp that an attempt was made by the Chavez Jr. Camp to relocate their training to Mayweather Boxing Club, where Ariza would be free to continue with his work. When the news got to Arum, however, he supposedly threatened not to pay for the sparring partners that were brought in unless Chavez Jr. remained at Top Rank Gym.
After that, Arum would take his ban one step further, preventing Ariza from even visiting Chavez Jr. in the gated community where he now resides. This latest move has essentially eliminated the possibility of Ariza even traveling with the team, which makes it doubtful that he'll be in attendance during the week of the fight...unless, of course, Chavez Jr. decides to veto Bob Arum, much like Manny Pacquiao did when there were talks of removing Ariza from the corner.
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