Underdog Boxing: Ariza takes leave from Team Pacman to train Chavez Jr.

Alex Ariza, Manny Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach, left Pacquiao’s training camp in Baguio early Saturday morning to catch a flight later that evening to Los Angeles. He was City of Angels-bound to help Julio Caesar Chavez Jr. prepare for his upcoming fight.   The departure was quite unexpected as the two best pupils of the Wild Card Gym are both in Baguio. Pacquiao will be staying an the Cooyeesan Plaza Hotel to train at the Shape Up Boxing Gym until the first week of May and Amir Khan, who is preparing for his rematch against Lamont Peterson, is training alongside him.   Rumors swirled in the gym as a lot of people had their own theories as to why Ariza left but the details are still sketchy at the moment. A lot of people were wondering if there was a misunderstanding between Pacquiao’s camp and Ariza but it appears that the latter’s departure was scheduled much earlier.   Late last Friday night, Pacquiao and his team members were at a local restaurant to celebrate Ariza’s birthday. The entire team was in a celebratory mood so a quarrel between the two parties is highly unlikely.   However, Ariza’s departure left a bitter taste in the mouths of some of Pacquiao’s team members. “Alex became a well known conditioning coach because of Manny. I don’t understand why he chose to help Chavez prepare instead of Manny,” one team member said.   Local trainer Marvin Somodio has been tapped to temporarily replace Ariza in stretching out Pacquiao and Khan before they hit the mitts.   “Alex has always been kind to me and he gave me pointers on how to stretch Manny,” said the diminutive Somodio. “I was a little nervous when I first stepped into the ring to help Manny prepare but because the mood was light and jolly, I quickly became at ease.”   The people around the ring were all smiles when they saw Somodio take Ariza’s role.   “What happened to Alex? Why did he become smaller?” teased one.   “It’s Manny Pacquiao and Mini Pacquiao,” shouted another.   The gym broke into laughter. And with that, Somodio continued to work with the champ and limber him up for another ten rounds of mitts with Freddie Roach.   Roach has long wanted Somodio to head to the United States and be his assistant trainer at the Wild Card Gym. The two have formed a bond over the past three years and there is mutual trust and respect between the two.   After the training session, Pacquiao talked to Mike Koncz and asked him to help Somodio in procuring a US Visa so he can visit Roach’s gym.   There might be other reasons for Ariza’s departure that are beneath the surface. There may be underlying reasons that only Ariza knows. But as a casual observer, it seems all is well in Pacquiao’s camp and that Ariza will be working with Pacquiao again when the reigning WBO welterweight champion starts his training at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles by the second week of May. – AMD, GMA News