Alex Ariza has been engaging in a war of words with Freddie Roach for the past few weeks now and seems that the feud keeps escalating.
In an interview with Luis Sandoval of Boxingscene, Ariza reiterated that Roach should stop bragging and accept the fact that he is now at the bottom of the list of best trainers. He added that the Hall of Fame trainer is just doing anything he can to stay in the headlines.
"You know as well as I do the things Freddie says about me and I think it's transparent and kind of sad that he's become that sort of a person. But I understand it. What goes up must come down and he's at the bottom now so he's just trying to stay in the headlines. He's just doing what he can," Ariza said.
Ariza, the new strength and conditioning coach of Brandon Rios who is set to take on Manny Pacquiao on November 24th in Macau, was reportedly fired by Roach from Team Pacquiao. Roach previously said that Ariza's departure will not be felt because he is only good at stretching and hugging fighters.
When asked if he has any resentment towards Pacquiao, Ariza, who worked with the former pound-for-pound king for six years, said that he has nothing but respect to the former champion.
"With Manny I don't have any of course. Manny, he's a very good person. He was a great guy to me and I have nothing bad to say about him. No problem for me, nothing personal for me. Manny knows I'm just doing my job and supporting my family," Ariza said. "This is my career and he knows I always want to do the best work that is possible."
Ariza, who now works at the Robert Garcia's Boxing Academy, is also currently working with Mikey Garcia and Marcos Maidana. Garcia is set to face Roman Martinez on November 9th for the WBO super featherweight title, while Maidana is scheduled to collide with Adrien Bronner for the WBA world welterweight title on December 14th.
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