"I know he has a new strength coach and I don't get along with the guy, and one of the reasons why he doesn't work for me anymore is because I think he's a little shady, you know. He used to give Manny a drink every day before we worked out and I asked him, 'What's in that drink,' and he would never tell me. And I said, 'I need to know what's in that drink because, you know, you're giving it to my fighter and if something goes wrong, I'm gonna get the blame.' In my opinion, he's a little shady, so he's with that camp now and it doesn't surprise me that happened," stated world-class trainer Freddie Roach, who made explosive accussations about world-class Strength & Conditioning Coach Alex Ariza when recently asked about his opinion regarding the failed drug test of Brandon Rios following his unanimous decision loss to Manny Pacquiao. According to Roach, he wasn't surprised when he heard the news because, evidently, he also questioned some of the things Ariza did with his star pupil, 8-division world champion Manny Pacquiao, over the course of the 4-plus years they worked together.
"Everyone has their suspicions there because it's very unusual for the strength coach to be that close to the fighter. I mean, usually a cutman will work on a cut; that's a possibility. But he's very forceful. I was surprised Robert Garcia let him in the corner actually, because in Macau, he didn't even let him work the corner," Roach continued, sharing his opinion on the latest controversy involving Alex Ariza, where he was allegedly accused of slipping something to Marcos Maidana between rounds during his title-winning victory over Adrien Broner (it should be noted that Roach never had any problems with Ariza being in the corner during several of Manny Pacquiao's fights when they were still working together). "They say there's an investigation going on and so forth. He has Dr. Recta (sp), who gives him prescriptions all the time. They're looking up the wrong tree if they're looking at Alex Ariza. They need to find out where that came from because I believe, in my opinion, it was something illegal because smelling salts are illegal in boxing. Was it maybe that or something stronger?"
CHECK OUT WHAT ELSE FREDDIE ROACH HAD TO SAY IN THIS REVEALING VIDEO FROM SECONDSOUT.COM
[ Follow Ben Thompson on Twitter @fighthype ]