Alex Ariza Takes us behind the scene's......

At the moment strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza can be found on a daily basis inside of the confines of the Cooyeesan Hotel in Baguio City in the Philippines helping Manny Pacquiao prepare for his November 13th date with Antonio Margarito. Traveling to new locations is nothing new for Ariza, who was born in Columbia before relocating to Chicago, Las Vegas, and later Los Angeles where he hooked up with trainer Freddie Roach, and he seems to be settling into his new locale just fine.
Despite various reports of nagging injuries and minor illnesses to the seven division champion, Ariza insists everything is well in Pacquiao’s world as the team is now a little over five weeks away from the clash with Tijuana’s Margarito. Ariza first began working with Pacquiao after his March 2008 rematch with Juan Manuel Marquez at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and after five fights and countless moments together they are like family.
Speaking from the Philippines a few hours before another rigorous day of training, Ariza opened up about his time in Baguio thus far. Continue reading to see what Ariza had to say about Pacquiao’s progression in camp, the arrival of Amir Khan, Freddie Roach’s strategy heading into the fight and much more…

Arriving in the Philippines…
“My flight was great. Top Rank, of course they always take care of me. They put me in first class. I slept most of the way; it was a fifteen hour flight. When I landed Manny had some escorts here and they picked me up right away. They took me to where our hotel was and I met Manny at Congress. I went to the house and watched him work. It’s really impressive to see how far he has come.”
A different kind of life…
“The people here are extremely nice. They are so welcoming. They are warm. They are so respectful and polite. The food is good. I’ve always liked it here and I love the people. It’s really a nice place to be.”
The same guy…
“Manny and I have been together almost two and a half years. It’s kind of funny because you see him in his congressional position. I went to congress and I watched him work and it was kind of cool seeing him in his new position. As soon as he’s behind closed doors he goes back to joking around and being Manny. He’s still the same guy.”
Training camp…
“Baguio is an area that is elevated about 5200 square feet in elevation. A lot of people relate it to Big Bear. It’s not a city area, for sure. But it does have a small shopping center a mall, but we are up here a little bit higher. We got a hotel that is converted into a University. It’s a dorm setting and we have a floor that is designated to us and downstairs is the boxing gym and right behind us, down below a couple miles, are hills to run and there is a University track. So we have all of the things we need for training.”

Typical day…
“It’s just like camp. It’s the same kind of camp that we run in L.A. We get up early around 5:30 and depending on the day; we will do our work that morning. Conditioning, and running and then we will have breakfast. We then pretty much lie around all day and are either sleeping or eating until 2 O’clock and then we hit up a gym downstairs. It’s a beautiful gym actually. They have a brand new ring inside of there. Depending on what Freddie has, we either study strategy, hit mitts or other assignments.”
Picking up…
“Well, again, Manny hasn’t been in the ring for six months but he has already gotten about 17 rounds on the mitts. His conditioning in the ring is starting to pick up. The timing is just a little bit off. As far as the sparring, it’s been more on strategy so it is a little awkward because we are working on different things. It’s the second day of sparring and you can see what the strategy is going to be so it’s picking up for sure.”
Working with Amir Khan…
“Amir Khan is here for pure conditioning training. We have a long ways before his fight. I thought it was a good idea that we got him out here early and get him in tip top shape. I really feel that this is going to be a great fight. I don’t think people give Amir credit for what he has accomplished; they are focusing too much on Maidana. It’s like I said, we’ll see who the bigger, stronger guy is the night of the fight. I’m guaranteeing Amir is going to be the stronger guy. I’m going to focus as much as I can on Amir, to get him in tip top shape. Get him bigger, get him stronger, get him faster. Having him train alongside Manny will give him that motivation and I have a lot of plans for Amir. This will definitely be my best work.”
Freddie Roach’s strategy…
“Freddie’s always good. You know he’s a nice man. He doesn’t show very much emotion. He just sits there and kind of works behind the scenes. He’s thinking about strategy. He’s been spending a lot of time studying the tapes and thinking about Margarito and coming up with a game plan. We’re getting settled here and we still have a few more weeks before we return to the States. But we’re definitely doing what we have to do here.”