Alex Ariza signs with The Money Team

Alex Ariza has gotten around a bit as of late. He was most well known for being Manny Pacquiao's strength and conditioning coach for years, working out of the Wild Card Gym. At that time he also had other high profile fighters from the Freddie Roach stable such as Amir Khan who he frequently worked with. After a blow up with Freddie Roach, and subsequent accusations that Ariza was being shady regarding the supplements he was giving to Pacquiao, Ariza was fired and wound up working in the same capacity at the Robert Garcia Boxing Academy with the likes of Brandon Rios, Marcos Maidana, and Mikey Garcia.

There were more accusations of shady behavior from Ariza there too, with some saying Ariza seemed to have given a whiff of smelling salts to Marcos Maidana in the late rounds of the Adrien Broner fight. The footage of that incident was a bit suspicious, but hardly damning evidence, and though nothing came of it officially, Ariza was soon again dismissed from working with Robert Garcia and his fighters.

That brought us to a much talked about event where Ariza was spotted at the Mayweather gym and showing him different stretches he should use at his Las Vegas home. Most people thought it was simply gamesmanship on Mayweather's part, as Ariza was previously part of the opposing teams camp, and Mayweather is well known to have never employed a strength and conditioning coach nor nutritionist during his longstanding career. But now news is breaking that Ariza has become an official member of The Money Team.

"I signed an official contract for two years to serve as Floyd's strength and conditioning coach," Ariza was quoted as saying by the Manila Standard/Viva Sports.

Since then, Ariza has gone on to clarify his statements to Ben Thompson at FightHype.com.

"Don't oversensationalize the headline. It doesn't mean anything. That's what professional athletes do at this level. They have non-compete/non-disclosure contracts. It doesn't mean anything until fight time," said Ariza.

"It's a standard two-year non-compete/non-disclosure contract. I don't even know if he's going to fight for another two years. I just can't talk about anything that went on in this camp and he's got first dibs on me if he decides to work with me in his next camp," Ariza recently explained when FightHype.com reached out to him for further clarification. "I wouldn't read too much into it. It doesn't mean anything. I think what he's doing is protecting his options. Nothing is official until come fight time and Floyd decides who's doing what. We could be sitting here holding hands all day long, but then come fight time, it could be a different story. As of this point, it's just a non-compete/non-disclsure deal until Floyd decides what he's going to do."

Is this a good sign for Floyd whose getting up there in age? Maybe he feels he could use some expertise to maximize his physical condition for his last two fights. Or is Floyd just making a mistake by inviting even more egos and controversy into a group that's already maligned with them?