"I mean, he's told that to me himself that he wants the Mayweather fight. He told that to Freddie; he wants the Mayweather fight. I know Manny would like to fight Mayweather," stated Alex Ariza when asked if Manny Pacquiao preferred to face Floyd Mayweather in his next bout as opposed to pursuing a fourth fight with rival Juan Manuel Marquez. During a recent coversation with FightHype.com, the strength-and-conditioning coach echoed the sentiments of trainer Freddie Roach, who recently stated that Mayweather was Pacquiao's number one choice to fight next, therefore his promoter, Bob Arum, should be focusing on making that fight a reality as opposed to another clash with Marquez.
"It's like Freddie says, Manny has to push it and if Bob says he doesn't care what Freddie said, well, he should care because that's Freddie's fighter and Freddie knows what his fighter wants and he wants Mayweather," explained
Ariza, who is currently in Houston, Texas to help Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. prepare for his Saturday showdown with Peter Manfredo Jr. Speaking to reporters earlier today, Ariza again made it clear that the entire Team Pacquiao is unified in their decision that they want Floyd Mayweather next.
The question, however, is does it even matter if they're unified? "Bob will advise. This is Manny's decision," stated advisor Michael Koncz, who made it a point to clarify that the final decision rests with Pacquiao on who he fights next. That being said, in the past, rarely has Pacquiao ever gone against the "advise" of his promoter. Case in point, around this time last year, on November 20, 2010, just 7 days after Manny Pacquiao defeated Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley revealed on Twitter that a fight between himself and Pacquiao was "90% done". For the next month, Arum would float the names of Andre Berto and Juan Manuel Marquez as other possibile opponents for Pacquiao, but ultimately, on December 21, 2010, it was finally announced that it was Shane Mosley who indeed got the assignment.
While it appears as though everyone around him prefers Mayweather over a fourth fight with Marquez, unless Pacquiao himself is ready to put his foot down and demand that Bob Arum sit down and negotiation with Team Mayweather to make the fight, expect it to be business as usual for the real man behind the curtain making the decisions for the 8-division world champion.
CHECK BACK SOON FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH ALEX ARIZA
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]