"I was out in Mexico finalizing my deal with Chavez Jr. and going over camp dates for Julio's next fight. He'll be fighting Martin Murray the weekend after Manny's fight on June 16th...That's news to me if that's the case. I don't know where it's coming from. I leave Wednesday for the Philippines to start training Manny Pacquiao. Manny wants to start training on the 26th...I'll be leaving Wednesday night to start that, so I don't know what Amir's situation is right now. I spoke with him a little bit, but I don't really know. As far as I know, Amir was supposed to be traveling with me to the Philippines, so unless he changed his mind, I don't know. I spoke to his manager the other day and as far as I understand, they're trying to coordinate their flight arrangements with me to go to the Philippines, so that's the last I heard. Unless something happened between then and now that I don't know about, I don't know," stated Strength & Conditiing coach Alex Ariz, who talked about Chavez Jr.'s next fight, preparing to leave for the Philippines to begin working with Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan, and much more. Check it out!
BT: What's up, Alex?
AA: Not much, Ben. I was out in Mexico finalizing my deal with Chavez Jr. and going over camp dates for Julio's next fight. He'll be fighting Martin Murray the weekend after Manny's fight, on June 16th.
BT: Oh, okay. Cool, cool. Did you guys get a chance to see the Martinez fight?
AA: No, but I heard about it. To be honest with you, Julio and I went to watch his brother Omar. I don't even think Julio knew that Maravilla was fighting. Is it true that it was a close fight going into the late rounds?
BT: Yeah, actually, Macklin was hanging in there for a bit.
AA: I was expecting him to blow this guy out. You gotta remember, Macklin's trained at Wild Card. I know who Macklin is. I've seen Macklin spar; I've seen him fight. What the fuck? I mean, to have a nickname like "Maravilla" and expect yourself to be pound-for-pound, you better do something better than that. One of the spanish commentators had said, "You know, Martinez is so easy to figure out. He runs for four rounds, tries to get you tired, and then tries to come on at the end." He said he doesn't like to get hit. He said, "Honestly, I don't think he stands a chance against Chavez." The spanish media were telling me, they go, "After what we saw, the kind of pressure and size that Chavez has, and the power, Martinez wouldn't be able to keep him off of him." It sounds to me like his performance speaks for itself. I've got nothing else to really say other than that.
BT: (Laughing) Did Julio have anything to say about the fight?
AA: He just shook his head and said the same thing, absolutely nothing! There's nothing to say (laughing). I have yet to see the fight. I had to go out to Mexico and get my deal finalized for Julio's next fight and get our camp stuff in order.
BT: How exactly are you gonna do this with Manny and Julio fighting so close together? And what's up with Amir? I saw some people trying to spread a rumor that you weren't going to be working with him anymore.
AA: I really couldn't tell you. That's news to me if that's the case. I don't know where it's coming from. I leave Wednesday for the Philippines to start training Manny Pacquiao. Manny wants to start training on the 26th. I'll be leaving Wednesday night to start that, so I don't know what Amir's situation is right now. I spoke with him a little bit, but I don't really know. As far as I know, Amir was supposed to be traveling with me to the Philippines, so unless he changed his mind, I don't know. I spoke to his manager the other day and as far as I understand, they're trying to coordinate their flight arrangements with me to go to the Philippines, so that's the last I heard. Unless something happened between then and now that I don't know about, I don't know. My most important thing right now was to finalize my deal with Julio and get everything ready and set for when I get back here to start camp immediately with Julio.
BT: When are you getting back?
AA: I'll be back the third week of April. Chavez will be starting camp shortly after that. He's doing a 10-week camp. He'll be starting training a little bit early. Right now it's still undecided whether or not Chavez will be training in Las Vegas or Los Angeles. I think I've convinced him to train in Los Angeles because logisitcally, it's just better for us. You know, everything that I do is in Los Angeles. But Chavez is going to start training 10 weeks out for this fight.
BE SURE TO CHECK BACK DAILY AS ALEX WILL KEEP US UPDATED ON NEWS AND NOTES FROM TRAINING CAMP AND EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH MANNY PACQUIAO, AMIR KHAN AND JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ JR. IN THE COMING WEEKS.
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