Wouldn't you know it, Alex Ariza is involved in another shady boxing scandal. Earlier in the week he was quoted in a story about Brandon Rios testing positive for a banned substance following his fight with Manny Pacquiao. He told ESPN that everything he gave Rios was discussed but declined to comment on whether he was surprised that Rios failed his post-fight drug test.
You know what they say about loose lips.
Unfortunately the camera has not been kind to Ariza lately. He was filmed kicking his former boss Freddie Roach, who suffers from Parkinsons disease, before the Pacquiao fight.
More recently, video surfaced from the last fight he was in the corner for, when Marcos Maidana defeated Adrien Broner by wide margins on the scorecards. Ariza appears to put something shaped like pills on a napkin or towel before moving it in the direction of Maidana.
It's unlikely that these were pain pills, as these can have adverse effects on balance, are usually ineffective until the source of the pain ceases to exist and would have shown up on the post-fight drug test. There hasn't been any word of a red flag from the commission in Texas just yet.
It's more plausible that it was smelling salts to get Maidana out of a daze. Though he's the one who put Broner on the canvas twice, Maidana took several hard shots of his own. If he got a whiff of some smelling salts, which are illegal, it would certainly have helped him overcome some of the beating he took in the ring.
Where it gets really juicy is the fact that Alex Ariza worked very closely with Pacquiao over the years. Now I'm not saying that anything went on because you can get sued for that kind of thing. But consider one eyebrow slightly raised.
