"I think if Zab comes to fight, I think Amir can stop him early. If Zab goes to be on the run, I think Amir will eventually track him down and stop him, but I think either way, this fight is not going the distance....I think my guys are always ready to go to war and overcome whatever, so it's just a matter of Amir being focused, sticking to the game plan, and I think this is going to be a big, big night for us. We know we have to push the pace and push the pace early and get Zab out of his rhythm and hopefully we'll be able to capitalize. He's a busy fighter, man; Amir is a busy fighter. Just for the fans sake, a lot of people are looking forward to this fight, so I hope that he [Zab Judah] comes to fight and puts on a good show," stated Amir Khan's strength and conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, who gave us some last minutes thoughts hours before Khan steps into the ring to face Zab Judah in their jr. welterweight title unification. Check out what else he had to say!
BT: Amir looked pretty good at the weigh-in.
AA: Yeah, we're here right now. Amir's right here just chillin' with the boys right now and laying back. This is the thing, it's so comforting when you see your fighter laughing and joking before the weigh-in. For me, that means I did everything right as far as weight. He wasn't suffering, he wasn't cotton-mouthed; I did everything right. All the hard work is done. We're just chillin'.
BT: How big of a difference can you see in Amir now compared to when he fought McCloskey when you weren't working with him?
AA: Here's the thing, I mean, as acrimonious as the parting was, there's always something good that comes out of these things. Sometimes relationships become stronger, like broken bones. Sometimes everything comes back stronger and more resilient and, you know, it's good that he got a chance to go take a look outside and question whatever. Now that he's back, now he's hitting at 100% and whatever questions he may have had are gone. You know, this is the way to train and this is the way to fight. To be honest with you, I forget that there was the McCloseky fight. I have to be reminded because I always say, "Remember, the last fight." And then he's like, "Last fight?" I'm like, "Oh shit. I forgot it wasn't Maidana." I keep thinking about the Maidana fight, so I forget that we skipped [a fight] because we kinda just picked up where we left off. So the bottom line is, for me, it's a lot deeper because I had Amir from day one when he first walked into Wild Card. So we had the chance to build the three years of a relationship and a repoire and become friends. You know, fighters have fights and fighters have disagreements, but it wasn't really between me and him, so it didn't really affect us when we started working together again.
BT: So how are you expecting the fight to go tonight?
AA: This is what I think will happen. I think if Zab comes to fight, I think Amir can stop him early. If Zab goes to be on the run, I think Amir will eventually track him down and stop him, but I think either way, this fight is not going the distance. Let me tell you, Mookie [Cleotis Pendarvis], what a tremendous defensive and slick fighter. I just thought he was a slick, defensive fighter, but man, he can fight, and I think he was really the one that got Amir at the top of the game. It's like Amir says, all the strength and conditioning in the world can't prepare you in a fight for being mentally exhausted. He said having to fight Mookie was thinking, having to use his brain, having to be smart, having to be strategic, so Freddie got some good sparring partners. Thankfully, I think my guys are always ready to go to war and overcome whatever, so it's just a matter of Amir being focused, sticking to the game plan, and I think this is going to be a big, big night for us. We know we have to push the pace and push the pace early and get Zab out of his rhythm and hopefully we'll be able to capitalize. He's a busy fighter, man; Amir is a busy fighter. Just for the fans sake, a lot of people are looking forward to this fight, so I hope that he [Zab Judah] comes to fight and puts on a good show.
BT: Well, even if, worst case scenario, it goes to the scorecards, I think it'll be a good fight because, win or lose, Zab is usually pretty entertaining himself.
AA: Yeah, and Amir makes things entertaining. He's a busy fighter; he's like Manny. The only thing that worries me is that he's almost too much like Manny. He doesn't care if he gets hit and, you know, he'll keep coming back and just make a war out of it.
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