Brandon Rios will be having the fight of his life when he takes on Manny Pacquiao in a 12-round welterweight showdown on Nov. 23rd at the Venetian Resort in Macau, China.
A familiar figure will be on Rios' corner after the American camp's decision to hire strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza, who made a name in the boxing scene for his impressive work with Pacquiao in the past few years.
When asked about their decision to hire the famed strength and conditioning coach, the 27-year-old American said that they just grabbed the opportunity, pointing out that a talented coach like Ariza should not be left on the sidelines and let his talent go to waste.
"You know what? They fired him for some reason," Rios said in an interview with Boxingscene. "I don't know. That's not up to me. That's up to their camp. But you know what? They fired him so we hired his ass. Why not? Why leave him on the sidelines? A man that knows what he does and does a great job at what he does; we can't leave it to go to waste."
Rios, who will be fighting for the first time since losing to Mike Alvarado in action-packed showdown last March, previously worked with strength coach Angel "Memo" Heredia, who was the conditioning coach of Mexican boxing icon Juan Manuel Marquez in his fourth bout with Pacquiao.
When asked to compare the two famed trainers, Rios said that Ariza and Heredia are two different coaches with two different training styles.
"Different styles," said Rios. "Different styles of training. Memo likes to work with weights and Alex, he works with the core, the leg movement. He likes to work on speed and everything. They've both done great. Memo is great at what he does and Alex is great at what he does. There's no comparing them."
Ariza, who was widely credited for the seamless transition of Pacquiao from one weight class into another, was reportedly left out in the cold by Pacquiao's camp, allegedly due to the tension between him and trainer Freddie Roach.
Ariza denied last month that he was the one who decided to leave Pacquiao, reiterating that it was Pacquiao's decision and also added the he was not formally informed about his firing.