BoxRec

06.05.11

Whichever way you cut it, conditioning expert Alex Ariza made a significant impact on the physique and overall strength of Manny Pacquaio - and subsequently England's Amir Khan.

But in a much publicised falling out, Ariza and Team Khan split ways under a heavy cloud as both parties threw accusations at one another. The most serious was that Team Khan had entered Ariza's dressing room and actually stolen a signed contract between himself and Amir.

The Khan's later declared they didn't have any obligation to pay Ariza for his time and troubles - and that his tab should be picked up by Freddie Roach, as he was responsible for bringing Ariza into the set up.

"I was surprised by what happened, but it was nothing to do with Amir. His father has just shown his lack of experience of dealing inside boxing," Ariza told Gareth Davies in an interview with The Telegraph.

"I understand Amir is his meal ticket and he does not want to go back to driving cabs for a living. Freddie is surprised. Amir will still be working with Freddie. But they still haven’t paid me for preparing Amir for the fight against Marcos Maidana. We have a contract."

Since that period in February, Khan has since drafted in another conditioner in the shape of Michael Vale.

Whilst Amir was over in the Philippines to spar Pacquiao, Khan and Ariza crossed paths again, but a friendship was not resumed.

However since Amir's showing in Manchester the other weekend, many criticised the conditioning and strength of Khan. Saying he looked soft and lacked the spark he normally had, as witnessed against Maidana.

This was also noted by trainer Freddie Roach and even Ariza himself declared that if Khan turned up like that against Tim Bradley, it would be over pretty quickly.

This has prompted Freddie to implore Team Khan to 'make up' with Ariza and has subsequently organised peace talks, rumoured to be happening today.

Whether the "cab driver" comments and anger towards Amir's father Shah remain, are yet to be seen. Ariza was brutalised and kicked out by Team Khan as surplus to requirements - but have now come to realise that his input was absolutely key to Khan's success.

Success equals money and where money is concerned, the Khan's will always put business ahead of relationships.

Ariza is a ignorant bum who would be back wearing spandex and holding fitness classes for old ladies and their poodles, to rub two pennies together........fitness and nutrition experts are a dime a dozen these days, waaaay too much credit is given to ariza in the case of khan and pacquio.......

His "cab driver" comment shows his true nature and bitterness. Anyone who knows my posts here knows how i generally dislike khan, but as aguy who fought in rings old school, i remember the days when not a single asian lad could cut it in boxing.....khans father owned his own scrap metal business he wasnt a "cab driver"....khan isnt his "meal ticket" but his son and someone bearing the fruits of his fathers unstinting hard work and loyalty bringing the kid up with a winning mentality........no i think its back to selling tacos ands burritos roadside for ariza
there wqont be a reunion

Another neutral Khan thread title then Gomez?!

We seem to talk about Team Khans finanical dealings as much as we do about Khans boxing. It seems to me that his team want 101% of everything

I do agree that conditioning trainers etc would be easy to come by and Ariza is given a bit too much credit. Even Freddie Roach says about himself that he is only as good as his fighters but Ariza doesnt seem to think the same!

On the other hand khan seems to deserve a lot of the bad press he gets!

mugabi wrote:
His "cab driver" comment shows his true nature and bitterness

...no i think its back to selling tacos ands burritos roadside for ariza

Bit of a contradiction there?

There might have been a perfectly reasonable explanation why a member of team khan broke into Ariza's hotel room and ransacked his safe, why do people always think the worst ?

JimJim2009 wrote:There might have been a perfectly reasonable explanation why a member of team khan broke into Ariza's hotel room and ransacked his safe, why do people always think the worst ?

Haha

If it ain't broke don't fix it!

Makes you wonder what makes Ariza's conditioning so special, if indeed it is.

Strange one. It was Amir who said changing to Vale was no big deal because the conditioners did what Freddie roach wanted them to work on.

The story I heard of why Ariza was given the boot was that he made a loud fuss about taking his shoes off when Khan went to the mosque. Nothing to do with money and all that stuff about breaking into hotel rooms just shows that Ariza is crazy.
Interesting that Gomez used to write with the same kind of bile about Joe Calzaghe.

mrbassie wrote:

mugabi wrote:
His "cab driver" comment shows his true nature and bitterness

...no i think its back to selling tacos ands burritos roadside for ariza

Bit of a contradiction there?

it was deliberate mate. i wanted to pay back his racist slight back in kind.

ariza is a looney tune if he thinks he is going to endear himself to khan by creating a rift with his father. the mosque insult must hold true as if ariza knew anything about muslim men......they revere their fathers.....khans own father beat him many times as a boy.....and we remember how naz loved his father......these muslims seem to love
their fathers......ariza is nuts if he thinks khan will call him back....

Kerry kayes.....now there is a nutritionist worth his weight in gold....

mugabi wrote:khans own father beat him many times as a boy......

mugabi wrote:Ariza is a ignorant bum who would be back wearing spandex and holding fitness classes for old ladies and their poodles, to rub two pennies together........fitness and nutrition experts are a dime a dozen these days, waaaay too much credit is given to ariza in the case of khan and pacquio.......

His "cab driver" comment shows his true nature and bitterness. Anyone who knows my posts here knows how i generally dislike khan, but as aguy who fought in rings old school, i remember the days when not a single asian lad could cut it in boxing.....khans father owned his own scrap metal business he wasnt a "cab driver"....khan isnt his "meal ticket" but his son and someone bearing the fruits of his fathers unstinting hard work and loyalty bringing the kid up with a winning mentality........no i think its back to selling tacos ands burritos roadside for ariza
there wqont be a reunion

You're on a run of good posts at the moment mugabi.

I agree conditioning coaches / personal trainers are everywhere and infact i think some of them overcomplicate their jobs to seem indispensable. And i dont mean they're everywhere as a disrespectful thing. My mother was a personal trainer up until the 90's and a good personal trainer is a good personal trainer, its a science if you follow that science it goes right if you dont it goes wrong. Ariza wasnt in there teaching khan to box are working on his tactics, he was keeping him fit any good personal trainer would be able to do the same.

If ariza was doing stuff khan didnt like is changing to another conditioning coach going to ruin khans chances in the next fight? no. If khan changes from freddie roach then he it will harm him.

As for ariza not being paid - roach is khans manager so its his job to sort these things out between himself and the khans. There's always hiccups with things like that, too much is being read into it. And Khans father is looking out for his best interests and not being pushed around with contracts is doing that.

Counter-puncher wrote:

mugabi wrote:khans own father beat him many times as a boy......

I think he ment Naz's. But if not we all got beating when we were kids anyway ha ha. Back before this turned into a nanny state.

mugabi wrote:
Kerry kayes.....now there is a nutritionist worth his weight in gold....

Now this has been the best part of the whole thread, probably the only bit of truth too as all this is just rumor!

kingfinn wrote:

Counter-puncher wrote:

mugabi wrote:khans own father beat him many times as a boy......

I think he ment Naz's. But if not we all got beating when we were kids anyway ha ha. Back before this turned into a nanny state.

I'm glad I got a few clips as a kid. If not I would have turned into a right cocky bastard! Mind you probably the best lesson I got was as a 16 year old who thought he was "hard": went down my local boxing gym and got battered in sparring by a 13 year old who had been boxing since he was eight.