"I think he knows that his ambition after his fight, what he wants and what he's conveyed to me, is to fight Canelo. He says to him, it's personal. He wants to fight him and he wants to beat him. The way to get that [fight] is to have a good performance, come in and make a great fight...We got something in store for that. If he tries to get on his toes, watch what Julio does. I'm telling you, he's got a whole different confidence level now with his conditioning...They underestimate him and they think he's easy to beat. I think they think once you get him into deep waters, they get him past the 6th and 7th, that's when they think he's easy to beat. That's where I think everybody makes their mistake. But it's in his DNA, man. His genetic makeup, man, is to not give up. If there's ever a Mexican who likes to go toe-to-toe and likes to give and take, it's definitely that kid," stated strenght-and-conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who talked about the work he did with Julio Cesar Chavez in prepapring him for his clash this Saturday with Peter Manfredo Jr. Check it out!
BT: You got Julio's big fight coming up tomorrow. How's he looking?
AA: Yeah, you know, not that it was a blessing in disguise, the whole hand injury when he couldn't fight against Hearns, but it served as a great pre-camp because even though he couldn't train and hit the bag, he continued running, he continued staying in shape, and when he got here, he was in incredible shape already so far as physically ready and being conditioned. We just hit the ground running when he got here, so it was good that he got here the way he did, and the way he was trained, I think you'll see it when you see him at the weigh-in, for sure. We're good. He's taking this fight very serious. I'm obviously taking it serious. Oddly enough, I was a fan of Peter Manfredo from The Contender. I thought he beat Sergio Mora. I like him and I think it's a big fight, but for me, it's an exciting fight because I love their styles.
BT: I know some people have made a big deal about his weight in the past, but there were no problems with his conditioning or anything?
AA: Here's the thing, name one fight that we've had problems making weight since we've been together. I mean, for the Duddy fight, this came from Bob Arum's mouth, "This is the first time that Julio got on the scale at the time he was supposed to get on the scale and weighed in at the weight he was supposed to weigh in." We've done that for three fights now, so what the fuck is the problem? People talking about his conditioning, what are you talking about? What didn't you like about the Zbik fight? He won the fucking fight in the last three rounds. He didn't stop punching. He almost stopped the motherfucker with body shots alone. He won the fight in those last three rounds. He threw fucking more punches than he threw all during the beginning of the fight. What are you talking about? What's his conditioning problem? Did we come in overweight for Duddy? Did we come in overweight for Billy Lyle? Did we come in overweight for Zbik? What are they talking about?
BT: (Laughing) No clue bro, but I figured I'd ask just to clear it up. He'll be fighting on the same night that they replay Manny's narrow win over Marquez. I'm sure a lot of people are going to be rewatching that fight, so that's got to help give Julio a bigger platform to gain more exposure.
AA: I mean, you know, it's not like when I was getting him ready, I didn't prepare him with the idea that we were going to have a fucking terrible fight with Manny, so now I have to be even more harder on you than I normally am. I think he knows that his ambition after his fight, what he wants and what he's conveyed to me, is to fight Canelo. He says to him, it's personal. He wants to fight him and he wants to beat him. The way to get that [fight] is to have a good performance, come in and make a great fight.
BT: Given that he's with Top Rank and Canelo is with Golden Boy, what do you think the chances are of that fight ever happening?
AA: I don't know, dude. First of all, Julio has a manager, Billy Keane, and clearly this guy is working for Chavez Jr. and only Chavez Jr., so if that's what Chavez wants, he'll make sure that it happens. He'll make sure that Canelo knows that he wants it. It'll be up to Canelo if he wants to take the fight. Me personally, I think Canelo says that he wants to fight Chavez, but I don't believe he wants to fight Chavez. Let me tell you something, the country is divided between Chavez and Canelo. That's a fight that will unite that country, that's a fight that will make a superstar, that's a fight that the whole country will turn and get behind one fight, and if I was Golden Boy, I wouldn't want that fight because I can guarantee you, whatever half, or less than half, he has of that country, we're going to take it.
BT: That's a big statement considering that Marquez's fight with Manny was the most watched boxing event in Mexico. Do you think they'd fight in Mexico or would they put that fight at maybe Cowboys Stadium?
AA: That's a good question. Either one of those two venues are incredible. I mean, Cowboys Stadium for an event like that? Where else do you think it should be held in the States? Or in Mexico at Azteca Stadium, you know, breaking his father's record from when he fought Greg Haugen in front of 133,000, you know? I mean, who knows, man. All I know is Chavez wants that fight. He really wants it more than anything.
BT: Any predictions for Saturday's fight?
AA: I don't know. Peter's a great guy. I like Peter Manfredo. He's a really cool cat. I ran into him a few times here. It always sucks when you like the other guy on the other side. As long as Peter and Julio come out safe and sound, that's all that matters. But I like their styles. I like Manfredo; he comes forward, man, throws a lot of punches and tries to take you out too.
BT: True, true. I tell you what though, I won't be surprised to see Peter come out bouncing on his toes and trying to outbox Chavez.
AA: We got something in store for that. If he tries to get on his toes, watch what Julio does. I'm telling you, he's got a whole different confidence level now with his conditioning. He's got no problems fighting 12 rounds. It's kind of funny because sometimes we'll get to 10 rounds and Freddie will go, "one more," and Julio will go "five more." Here's what I think about a lot of the fighters that fight Jr. They underestimate him and they think he's easy to beat. I think they think once you get him into deep waters, they get him past the 6th and 7th, that's when they think he's easy to beat. That's where I think everybody makes their mistake. But it's in his DNA, man. His genetic makeup, man, is to not give up. If there's ever a Mexican who likes to go toe-to-toe and likes to give and take, it's definitely that kid.
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