Reporting from Los Angeles where Pacquiao has been holed up the last four weeks for next month's clash with Joshua Clottey of Ghana at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, Ariza said the world's No. 1 fighter pound-for-pound weighs less than 150 lbs.
“His weight is in check,” said Ariza, whose job description is to make sure Pacquiao is in condition day in and day out at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood as they eagerly await the March 13 showdown.
Ariza said he didn’t even attempt to tweak Pacquiao’s usual diet of beef, chicken and fish and veggies and fruits in favor of game meats like deer and antelope as being carried out by some practitioners of the sport supposedly to increase stamina and endurance.
“We didn’t do anything to change what’s been proven,” said Ariza, who was called in to work with Pacquiao in 2008.
With three weeks left, one of Ariza’s concerns is how to make sure Pacquiao maintains his current condition.
“We are in fact ahead of schedule in training,” said Ariza, who is originally from Colombia.
Pacquiao’s sparring will reach its zenith in the next 10 days when top trainer Freddie Roach asks him to do 10 or even 12 rounds in one training day.
By the time Pacquiao leaves in a private plane for Dallas on March 8, he would probably have already logged his last rounds of sparring, said Ariza.
Ariza stressed that Pacquiao will weigh in at the welter limit of 147 lbs and will not gorge himself just to make sure he doesn’t look like a wimp in front of Clottey, who should be 160 lbs by the time he answers the bell.
Source: Nick Giongco | Manila Bulletin
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