Pacquiao Conditioning Coach Ariza "Worried," but Not Too Worried

Ronnie Nathanielsz reports at PhilBoxing.com that Manny Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza is a bit concerned about Manny Pacquiao pushing himself too hard, but also expects the fight to be easy because Manny looks so good.

"I just hope that he slows down a little bit. I'm really worried that he's pushing too hard. He needs to be extra careful. ... I think Pacquiao looks great man. He is really focused on this one and I don't see this fight going more than five or six rounds."

I think we've all gotten used to recent Pacquiao camps being spun as somewhere between Manny being distracted and the training going disastrously, but this is pretty late in camp to try and stir up interest in the whole "Is Manny totally ready for this fight?" ploy. And of course Ariza doesn't even seem to believe in it. Maybe he just said it because he's used to saying things like this as fights approach.

That's not to say that Manny can't be looking great and give Ariza legitimate concern that with over a week to go before fight night, he's going too hard. On Saturday, Pacquiao sparred six rounds with Shawn Porter, and three rounds with both Raymundo Beltran and David Rodela.

Word has been, overall, that both Pacquiao and Mosley have had excellent training camps. I say focus on that, and forget the other jibber-jabber until something crazy happens, or if one of them shows up looking awful at the weigh-in. Pacquiao faces Mosley on May 7 at the MGM Grand on Showtime PPV.