By Ronnie Nathanielsz
Despite all the talk about a possible comeback by undefeated former pound for pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr, his well-known strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza believes a comeback is far-fetched.
In a lengthy conversation with the New Standard/krikya360.com, Ariza said that “we talked and he is adamant about retiring and taking care of his kids” pointing out that Mayweather has been 19 years in the boxing business and “I don’t know what is left out there for him to do, what’s going to motivate him.”
He noted that Mayweather has made "almost a billion dollars and he’s beaten everybody in the sport. I don’t know who is going to really motivate him to come back and I don’t know how much money they can offer him.”
Asked whether beating heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano’s record of 49-0m which he equaled in a lopsided win over Andre Berto. Ariza remarked “I don’t know whether Floyd really holds those things at the same level people hold them.”
He noted that “Floyd has done it all, made all the money. He’s the richest athlete in the world . He’s Forbes No. 1 , he’s broken all the records beaten all the champions and to beat Marciano’s record I don’t think its one of those things on his mind.”
At the same time Ariza strongly defended Mayweather’s use of IV on the eve of his May 2 showdown with Manny Pacquiao insisting that IV doesn’t do anything and both the Nevada State Athletic Commission and the US Anti Doping Agency agreed in their written findings. Ariza said "Floyd did nothing wrong.”
He said USADA requested the IV because of Mayweather’s dehydrated state and conceded that “nobody is ever going to talk well about Floyd . They are always looking for something controversial but he does what every athlete out there has done before and currently does. If people think he beat Manny Pacquiao because he was dehydrated they should follow another sport.”