Manny Pacquiao Demands Alex Ariza's Presence for Fight with Timothy Bradley
ByBleachersreport
June 6, 2012
Stephen Dunn/Getty Images
Remember when Freddie Roach mentioned that he would not allow Alex Ariza to be a part of the team in Pacquiao’s corner against Timothy Bradley? Well, apparently Roach had a conversation with Pacquiao, and they have decided that Ariza will indeed be there come Saturday night.
“It’s going to be Alex Ariza, Miguel Diaz and Buboy. I had a long talk with Pacquiao last night. There are no issues. Everyone knows their roles and nobody will be stepping on each other’s toes. If Manny gets cut, Miguel Diaz will be the guy working on it,” stated Roach in a recent interview.
While all this sounds nice and dandy, I feel like Pacquiao demanded that Ariza be there with him come fight night. What had likely happened is that Roach made the previous statement based on his own feelings and decisions. As I have mentioned in my previous article, that decision sounded very unusual; Pacquiao likely wanted to have Ariza there.
This shows that, despite the fact that Ariza keeps coming out with statements criticizing Arum and with other comments supporting Mayweather Jr., Pacquiao still values Ariza very highly. Pacquiao is a smart man, and I think that this is the right decision for Pacquiao and his camp.
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