THERE are at least three men in the training staff of Floyd Mayweather Jr. who used to work in Manny Pacquiao’s camp.
One is a Filipino videographer while the other two are Latinos: conditioning coach Alex Ariza and his brother Alex Di Ciero, a former Pacquiao bodyguard who moved to the camp of Marcos Maidana and then hopped over to Team Mayweather.
All three only had good words for their new boss.
Contrary to popular impression, they all said he’s a good man, generous to a fault and really takes care of his staff.
“Looking bad and mean is only a front, for publicity purposes. He is actually a really nice man if you get to know him and work for him,” said Di Ciero, who visited Pacquiao during his workout.
The Pambansang Kamao was reportedly glad to see his former bodyguard.
While they all love Pacquiao, who undoubtedly has more virtues than Mayweather, there was no bad review at all for the American boxer. And it’s not because they work for him now.
Ariza didn’t want to leave Pacquiao with whom he had no quarrel. He just could not get along with chief trainer Freddie Roach, who gave him his walking papers.
Nobody said it openly but it seemed that Pacquiao stayed above the quarrel between Roach and Ariza at that time.
Ariza had to go. He drew Roach’s ire when, during Pacquiao’s training for an important fight, Ariza left camp to be with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., whom he also worked for.
Di Ciero didn’t say if he was rooting for Pacquiao or Mayweather.
He said they are two of the best boxers in the world and it’s hard to tell who will eventually prevail on fight night.