ARIZA THINKS ERNIE SANCHEZ IS A REAL PROSPECT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 05 Jun 2012
Manny Pacquiao?s strength and conditioning coach Alex Ariza thinks very highly of Filipino featherweight Ernie Sanchez who makes his US debut on the undercard of the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley showdown at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on June 9.
After watching Sanchez work out at the Wild Card Gym of Freddie Roach, Ariza said the youngster from Pacquiao?s hometown of General Santos City was ?pretty good, strong and there?s potential in him.?
Ariza described Sanchez as being ?tall for his weight, he?s got strong legs, good movement and power and he looks good with pressure.?
However, Ariza cautioned ?but that?s now. While there is obviously potential in the fighter I just hope they don?t think he is a Manny Pacquiao.?
He said ?you?ve got to realize that there?s only one Manny Pacquiao in the world. You can?t expect to do the same things that he could do with a minimum amount of conditioning training.?
Ariza said fighters like Sanchez ?have to take their game to the next level, and then some. That means being a complete athlete which means doing your strength and conditioning, running, more nutrition. If you want to be a world champion this is what you?ve got to do.?
The 20 year old Sanchez who has a record of 12-3 with 5 knockouts is coming off a 2nd round TKO of Eman Labanza last March 17 after a string of three losses including a unanimous btwelve round decision to Robert Kopa Palue in a clash for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific featherweight title on September 17, 2011.
Sanchez also dropped a ten round split decision to Joseph Von Minoza on August 27, 2011 and a unanimous ten round decision in a Philippine Boxing Federation featherweight title fight against Edgar Gabejan.
Hilario who is from the Dominican Republic but fights out of Minnesota is nicknamed ?Pretty Warrior? and has a record of 12-2-1 with 9 knockouts although the 29 year old is coming off back-to-back losses in 2010. He is coming off a long layoff.
He dropped an eight round decision to Luis Franco on September 17, 2010 and lost a twelve round unanimous decision ti Martin Honorio in a WBO North American Boxing Organization lightweight title fight on March 5, 2010.
Hilario started his career impressively and by March 2009 was undefeated with a record of 10-0-1 with 8 knockouts including his most significant win which was a split decision victory over Luis Bolano.
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