The upcoming fight between Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios has lacked a little spice during the buildup, but after tensions flared between the two fighters’ trainers the excitement is now at a fever pitch.
Manny Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach came away from a profane altercation with Rios’ trainer Robert Garcia, and his strength trainer Alex Ariza dodging claims that he’s a racist. Ariza, on the other hand didn’t escape unscathed, as he was heard mocking Roach’s manner of speech due to his Parkinson’s disorder.
The two fighters are sharing a gym in Macau, China, and the confrontation started because Rios and his team were slow to exit the gym so Pacquiao could train. Roach went over to Garcia and Ariza and told them to get out in no uncertain terms. There was pushing and shoving, and Roach was even kicked by Ariza, with whom he has an extensive and negative history.
Ariza used to be Pacquiao’s strength trainer, but was unceremoniously booted from Pacman’s camp because of his inability to co-exist with Roach. Upon Ariza’s dismissal, Roach blasted Ariza’s role and deemed him almost useless.
“Ariza is just an [expletive]. He never did a thing for Manny,” Roach told Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin Iole. “Manny always worked on his own. Alex just stretched him, and that was the extent of his job. I told Manny, 'You're paying this guy a lot of money just to stretch you.' What fighter in the world, what professional athlete, can't stretch himself?' And Manny agreed and said, 'I'm going to go back to the old way.'”
Roach has also been documented as disliking Garcia for laughing at jokes Rios made about his Parkinson’s. During this fiasco Ariza can be heard calling Roach a “stuttering pr—k,” while Roach was recorded calling Garcia a “Mexican mother---er.”
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