Pacquiao’s, Rios’ coaches get into heated scuffle

Natashya Gutierrez

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

The rumble involved Freddie Roach getting kicked right below his chest

MACAU (UPDATED) – The Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios fight just heated up.

On Wednesday, November 20, a scuffle broke out at the boxing gym at the Venetian hotel here after Pacquiao’s trainer Freddie Roach and Rios’ trainer Robert Garcia exchanged heated words, leading to some pushing and shoving. Other members of the camps got involved as well.

At a little past 11am, Roach walked in with Pacquiao’s conditioning coach Gavin McMillan, to find Rios’ camp still training. Rios had the gym reserved from 9-11am, but was forced to start later after an interview with ESPN. At that time, Rios was finishing up his workout on the elliptical machine.

The fight started after Roach approached Garcia and asked them to leave. 

Garcia then responded, “We got 30 more minutes” to which Roach said, “No you don’t you only got until 11 o’clock.”

“Well we were here because we got some interviews with ESPN, we ain’t going nowhere,” Garcia said.

Roach replied, “That’s not my fault. Get the f*** out of here.” 

“It ain’t my fault either, I ain’t going nowhere,” Garcia said.

Roach, growing increasingly angry, then said, “You piece of s***.”

“I ain’t going nowhere and don’t call me a piece of s***,” Garcia replied. 

At this point, Alex Ariza, Pacquiao’s former conditioning coach who has since transferred to Rios’ side, joined the altercation and yelled at Roach, “Get the f*** out of here!”

Roach threatened back, “Throw me out! Throw me out! Make me leave! Make me leave!”

The exchange went on for a few seconds with Ariza starting to mock Roach’s Parkinson’s disease, “uh uh uh,” he stuttered.

Roach then took a step forward to focus on Ariza, who suddenly kicked Roach just below his chest, throwing him backwards. Roach fired Ariza after Pacquiao’s last fight against Juan Manuel Marquez.

The kick was so hard Ariza’s shoe flew off.

McMillan pulled back Roach after the kick, telling Ariza, “That’s assault, that’s assault!” 

“No he started it. F*** you too! F*** you too!,” Ariza replied to McMillan, who has since replaced his spot as the Pacquiao team’s conditioning coach. “Mind your f***ing business b****!”

Not wanting to fight, McMillan stepped back and simply said, “You’re such a joke!”

Ariza yelled back, “You’re a f***ing joke, f*ggot!”

Racist words

The altercation got even more heated from there.

“Get the f*** out of here!,” said another member of Rios’ camp.

Roach replied, “You Mexican motherf***er!”

“What did he say? Is he getting racist?,” the staff replied surprised.

He then had to be held back as he tried to again fight Roach.

Garcia later yelled back, “You piece of s*** Roach! That was personal f***er! F*** you Roach, that’s personal you don’t run this f***ing place!”

Ariza then mocked Roach’s Parkinson’s disease again, saying, “Let’s go, let’s get down right there. Spi-spi-spit out!”

Roach then responded, “I’m sorry I took over all the credit for your wins.” 

He added, referring to Aziza’s mocking, “You don’t do it that well, Brandon does it better.” Roach was referring to how Rios had mocked his condition in the past, in a video that also went viral and drew ire towards Rios from fans.

Roach’s staff then requested for police, with McMillan telling the security at the gym, “We want him arrested.”

Roach, who was led out by McMillan as they waited for police, then laughed, “A f***ing girl kicked me!”

Ariza later told Rappler he kicked Roach because he saw Roach put up a fist, and did it for self-defense.

Rappler’s video however, shows Roach was only walking towards Ariza right before he was kicked. Ariza says he does not regret what he did. 

Watch the video below:


Unfortunate

Garcia expressed disappointment at the incident, saying “I ain’t disrespecting nobody and he comes and calls me a piece of s***.”

He said he didn’t understand why Roach reacted the way he did when Pacquiao was not even at the gym yet. He also said Pacquiao’s camp reserved the place from 11am-4pm, while they only got the gym for two hours.

Garcia said he respected all Roach has done in boxing but said it was unfortunate the altercation happened. (Read: Pacquiao, Rios react to trainers’ scuffle; Ariza not sorry)

Let us know what you think on the comments below. – Rappler.com


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Natashya Gutierrez

Natashya is President of Rappler. Among the pioneers of Rappler, she is an award-winning multimedia journalist and was also former editor-in-chief of Vice News Asia-Pacific. Gutierrez was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders for 2023.