“Alex makes sure Manny’s on weight all the time,” Roach said. “He keeps the weight on him during camps. Because Manny does get a little too light. Manny is naturally a 140 pounder. It’s just that the competition is at higher weight classes. One thing about Alex is that he doesn’t do any other sport. He does boxing and boxing only. He doesn’t do football. He doesn’t cross train with the football programs with the weights like most strength coaches want to do. I mean why would you want to lift weights when the main asset of your guy is speed? Why would you want to slow him down? We have a good program. It’s worked. It’s proven with Manny Pacquiao, now with Amir Kahn, (Julio) Chavez Jr. They’re all in the same exact program. Of course everyone has different needs. Whatever the points they need worked, we push that particular point harder.”

This begs the question: Could Pacquiao have done what he has done, going up in weight, maintaining his speed and power, without the services of Ariza?

“I don’t think so,” Roach said. “If the weight gain was just eating more food with no one directing him, it would be counterproductive. We’d have a little heavier guy, but maybe not as solid. Manny’s naturally 140 pounds, but he’ll come in for the fight at 150 pounds ripped. The diet that they’re on, and the foods that they eat, of course there’s a little give and take also. Alex has a few problems with Manny because Manny has a Philippine diet, and he’s used to that. And that’s what he’s been working with his whole life. If you take rice away from Manny Pacquiao he can’t work out. There’s probably better foods out there for energy but his staple food is rice. So there’s always give and take. Alex has been a big part of it. Between my top guys, well, I can’t do my job without him.”

Ariza doesn’t oversee his program alone. He gets regular advice and assistance on administering Pacquiao’s regime from Teri Tom, a dietician at UCLA, and Aundrea Macias, a kinesiology expert at San Diego State.

“Aundrea does all my research analysis. We analyze all the exercises, risk vs. reward. I run it by her and she tells me what’s best. Manny’s not in his twenties anymore, and we have to be careful what we do. The margin of error that we have at this level is zero. It’s got to be perfect. At the end of the day, I’m going to have to answer for it. I’m the one who takes care of the weight, I’m the one who takes care of the conditioning, and that’s why Freddie has me here. I can’t be a quarter of a pound off. When they step on that scale at that certain day, at that certain time, they need to be that certain weight or you’re fired. ”

Although Ariza clearly eschews old-style training techniques, including even jogging in the morning, Roach has taught him that the best mix is to grab a bit of the old and a bit of the new, if mainly for the fact that much of the old-school techniques are ingrained in the psychology of most fighters and, thus, have value in their familiarity.

“My trainer Eddie Futch wouldn’t let anyone do that,” Roach said of modern training science. “And I still believe that nothing takes the place of pounding that pavement. But I’m open minded. When you see guys flipping tires and doing these crazy exercises that hurt their backs, you know, we live in a world with a lot of technology that perfectly do those exercises for you. I’m old school in training, like we work our ass off in here, but to the new stuff I’m a little bit acceptable because I find that if you do too much of the old school stuff you have a tendency to burn out. I’m very open to suggestion, but only if it makes sense to me. If it doesn’t make sense to me, I’m not going to do it.”

Says Ariza; “Freddie likes to say, ‘Just because it’s the right thing to do, it might not be the best.’

So for now, six weeks out from fighting the biggest man Pacquiao has ever fought, Ariza continues the never ending balancing act, mixing his new school, with Roach’s and Pacquiao’s old school. As it all unfolds he never fails to realize just how fortunate he is to be able to ply his unique trade for the best in the business.

“Sometimes it’s surreal,” Ariza said. “Sometimes I’ll be standing up there at the Wild Card and I’m standing next to Freddie Roach. It’s like a struggling actor coming to Hollywood and next thing you know you’re working for Martin Scorcese. He gave me a shot and I made it. Fortunately when I got Manny he wasn’t as big as he is now. We had time to develop a relationship without there being so much distraction. It just so happened that it exploded after a year, then we started getting so busy.

“Freddie’s probably the only trainer out there who would let somebody in like me and have that level of responsibility. He knows and trusts me. He knows what I do, he knows whatever I argue for is the best thing for Manny. I don’t think I’d get as far if I didn’t have his support.”