Filed under: WBA, WBC, WBO, Golden Boy Promotions, Boxing Rumors, HBO
When WBA king Amir Khan (pictured above, center) returns to the ring on April 16 at MEN Arena in Manchester in his native England, the junior welterweight (140 pounds) will apparently do so without his strength coach, Alex Ariza (pictured above, at left), an assistant to five-time Trainer of The Year, Freddie Roach (pictured above, at right), who has apparently been fired, according to a account by BoxingScene.com.
Citing Shah Khan, the father of Amir Khan (24-1, 17 knockouts), BoxingScene.com reported that Ariza's six-fight relationship with the fighter has ended, this, after the 24-year-old of Pakistani decent credited Ariza's prowess as having been paramount for his most recent bout -- last month's HBO televised unanimous decision over Marcos Rene Maidana (29-2, 27 KOs) at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
After dropping Maidana in the first round as a result of a right-left to the body, Khan had to survive a more than 40-punch barrage that nearly had Khan out on his feet in the 10th round of a match up that was voted Fight of the Year by the Boxing Writers Association of America.
"[Alex Ariza] got me to win the fight. He got me in the best condition that I could be in for the fight," said Khan, to which Ariza responded, "He [Khan] deserves all of the credit, he really does."
Ariza joined Khan following his first-round knockout loss to Breidis Prescott in September of 2008, after which Khan has gone 6-0, with four knockouts.
Ariza also assists Roach with WBO welterweight (147 pounds) and WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) king Manny Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 KOs), junior middleweight contender Vanes Martirosyan (28-0, 17 KOs) and junior middleweight and middleweight prospect Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (41-0-1, 30 KOs), among others.
"We just needed to move on. Amir needed to move on. Freddie is going to bring in another conditioning coach," Shah Khan told BoxingScene.com. "He [Roach] already mentioned a name, but we'll wait [to disclose the name] until he gets everything."
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