Though it is mano a mano in the ring or cage, when two elite level athletes go head to head the backbone of the finished product is a team that has been to hell and back with their particular fighter. The training camp is always the hardest part and the sole responsibility of pushing someone to that next level lies to guys such as strength and conditioning trainer Alex Ariza.
Ariza is better known as the sole strength and conditioning trainer of Manny Pacquiao, but being that Pacquiao is based out of The Wild Card Gym and Freddie Roach also training Amir Khan it was natural that Ariza was picked up. For the hardcore fan it comes as no surprise that Ariza had a rough period with Amir Khan’s management citing payment issues and even going out and saying that members of Khan’s team broke into his room to get contracts and paperwork. Fast forward to the present time and all of those issues have been resolved and for the past six weeks Ariza has been putting Khan thru a gambit of Plyometric exercises to running hills to everything in between.
We were lucky enough to sit down with him and talk about the challenge that Zab Judah brings and much more.
