Garcia: Ariza can share Pacman’s fine regimen

What’s good for Manny Pacquiao should be good for national athletes as well. With this in mind, Philippine Sports Commission chair Richie Garcia wants the pound-for-pound king’s conditioning coach, Alex Ariza, to orient the national coaches and athletes on Pacquiao’s formula for his phenomenal success in the ring.

Garcia met with Pacquiao at his congressional office at the Batasan complex yesterday and got a commitment from the seven-division world champion to lend Ariza to the national team. “He (Pacquiao) told me that it’s all just a matter of scheduling,” said Garcia. “We could either send our people to  Baguio, where Pacquiao will be training, or ask Ariza to come down to Manila for a while.” The PSC as well as the Philippine Olympic Committee want Ariza to share his insights during a series of seminars with the coaches, trainers and athletes from various disciplines. “We’re trying to get him … so he could talk to our coaches and people concerned with nutrition,” said Garcia. Aside from Ariza, a Colombian, Pacquiao also has American Teri Tom as his personal nutritionist while training for his Nov. 13 fight against Mexican Antonio Margarito. Ariza oversees Pacquiao’s physical conditioning while Tom, who has a Master’s degree in nutrition science in California, takes care of the ring icon’s diet.