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MACAU – Tension rose between the camps of Manny Pacquiao and Brandon Rios Wednesday morning when a heated exchange of words led to a scuffle involving trainers Freddie Roach, Robert Garcia, and former Pacman conditioning and strengthening coach Alex Ariza.
Roach and Garcia had harsh words against each other after Pacquiao’s longtime trainer asked the Rios camp, which by then was wrapping up interviews to mediamen, to leave the gym as they already overlapped into the training time of the eight-time Filipino champion.
But Garcia stood his ground and apparently, didn’t like it when he heard Roach call him names.
“I ain’t going and don’t call me piece of shit,” Garcia told Roach.
The situation boiled over when Ariza, now part of the Rios corner after being axed by Roach as Pacquiao's conditioning and strengthening coach, joined the fray and shouted at Roach to "get out of here."
“Throw me out! Throw me out!” Roach dared Ariza.
Ariza, who obviously had an axe to grind against Roach after being kicked out of Pacquiao’s corner this year, then kicked the five-time Trainer of the Year in the chest as pandemonium broke loose inside the gym.
“Get the f***k out of here,” the two trainers hollered at each other at the height of the melee. Roach later was accused of making a 'racist' remark.
Pacquiao was not yet in the gym when the incident happened. Rios was seen in an exercise machine during the commotion and didn't get involved.
After the brawl, Ariza was seen making fun of Roach's slurred speech owing to his battle with Parkinson's Disease.
Here's a video of the incident posted on YouTube by EsNewsReporting.com (Warning: Video contains a lot of inappropriate language):
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