Manny Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach, Brandon Rios' trainer Robert Garcia, and former Pacquiao and current Rios strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza were reportedly involved in a physical scuffle tonight in Macao.In fact, Ariza booted Roach in the chest in the midst of a heated verbal exchange between the two camps, one that apparently erupted when there was a dispute over whose turn it was to use the facility."I got struck by Alex Ariza. He kicked me in the chest," added Roach, who intimated that the race card was being used because he's Caucasian."Is that [the racist accusations] coz I'm a white guy?" Roach added. "You make the race issue such a big deal. That was way after the fact."Roach added that it was Robert Garcia, Brandon Rios' trainer who started the altercation.Pacquiao has lost his last two fights - to Timothy Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez - however he is determined to prove that his career is not over.
"I'm excited because I haven't fought since last year," he said.
"I feel like I'm excited, hungry to fight again; to prove that I can still fight. It's been a while I didn't fight."
Rios, though, believes that he is in the perfect shape to inflict a third successive defeat on Pacquiao, who has won world titles at eight different weights.Clearly the trouble has been brewing for some time between Roach, Garcia and Ariza, and it was only a matter of time before things hit a reckoning point. This isn't the case of somebody manufacturing a feud in order to increase the pay-per-view buys.
Roach doesn't like Garcia, and he doesn't like Ariza. The feeling is mutual from the other side. This real-life drama does add another dimension to what seems like an otherwise uninspiring fight.
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