(CNN Philippines) — It’s a small world after all, and for Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. the world of boxing is even smaller.
We take a look at the camps of the two fighters and the two figures who have worked for both sides: Bob Arum and Alex Ariza.
With the build up to the fight reaching fever pitch, every move by the fighter and the company that he keeps is being placed under the microscope.
A look into each camp will show two faces that have both been a vital part of Team Pacquiao and Team Mayweather, these two people are Top Rank CEO Arum and strength and conditioning coach Ariza.
Bob Arum
From 1996 to 2006, Bob Arum was the promoter of Mayweather before the fighter decided to buy out his own contract with Top Rank for $750,000 and start self promoting himself under Mayweather Promotions.
According to Yahoo Sport’s Kevin Iole, Mayweather essentially accused Arum of underpaying, exploitation of his talents, and manipulating officials.
Mayweather was also unhappy with what he perceived was a lack of effort on Arum’s part in marketing him to the black community, something that Arum has admitted to be the only mistake he has ever made in their professional relationship.
Their last fight together was against Zab Judah which gave Mayweather his first welterweight title.
Since then, Mayweather has broken pay-per-view records twice with fights against Oscar Dela Hoya and Saul Alvarez.
During the protracted negotiations, it was speculated at one point that Arum was one of the biggest obstacles in making the super fight happen, and that the strained relationship between him and Mayweather was to blame.
“We’re all family. We’re all part of this boxing family, and we are so proud to put on this event,” said Arum at the opening press conference for the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.
It seems as though that the bad blood between the two in the past has dissipated as they’ve shown mutual respect towards each other throughout the build-up to the fight.
Read: Are there Filipinos betting against Pacquiao?
Alex Ariza
One of Manny Pacquiao’s greatest achievements is how he climbed up the weight classes from flyweight to light middle weight, while winning title after title along the way.
Jumping up weight classes is always difficult for a professional boxer physically, and the journey Pacquaio has made up the weight ladder – while keeping both his strength and speed – plays a big part in the legacy that he will leave.
The man credited for keeping Pacquiao physically competitive at that time is Alex Ariza, the current strength and conditioning coach of Mayweather.
“I thought he did a good job,” said Pacquiao trainer Freddie Roach on Ariza. “Then, he started giving Manny advice in the corner, and I’m like, ‘What are you doing?'”
According to Roach, Ariza, during his time with the team, tried to do more than just strengthening the Filipino fighter. He ended up trying to do the job of other members of the team as well.
He has since been replaced by Justin Fortune, who was the original strength and conditioning coach of Pacquiao.
“Look at all the knockouts when he had Alex Ariza,” Mayweather pointed out. “As soon as Alex Ariza left, no on has been knocked out.”
Ironically, despite the praise of the American fighter, one of the greatest critics of Ariza’s work comes from the Mayweather camp itself.
In a recent interview, trainer and father Floyd Mayweather Sr. went on a rant about Ariza’s involvement in the camp, implying that Ariza knew nothing about boxing and wasn’t doing anything to help his son prepare for the fight.
Whether or not Ariza has made an impact on Mayweather will become more apparent on May 2 (May 3 PHT) when the two fighters finally clash in a bout billed as the fight of the century.
