Pacman adviser is distracting champ

Luis Sebastian Rusiana
Aegis People Support

AFTER the article written by Michael Marley on Examiner.com was posted on the Internet on Oct. 4, fans of the pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao have been pounding the Internet with harsh criticisms against Pacman’s adviser, Michael Koncz.

It was reported that Koncz personally told Pacquiao to dump his long-time coach Freddie Roach.

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He allegedly said, “Manny does not need Freddie but Freddie needs Manny” and further referred to Roach as an unnecessary expense at this point in Manny’s career.

Perennial coach of the year Roach is an unnecessary expense for Pacquiao? I beg to disagree. If there is anyone who deserves a lot of credit for molding and cementing Pacquiao’s legacy in boxing, it is definitely Roach and not someone with the last name of Koncz.

Even a five-year-old old Filipino kid would probably know this.

What in the world is going on inside Koncz’s mind? Is he going to fire Roach and get a sudden replacement coach who would ask for a lesser price to train Pacquiao for his encounter with Cotto, which is only a month away?

I can’t find the right words to condemn this. Koncz is supposed to be Pacquiao’s adviser and yet he gives the kind of advice that would surely ruin Manny’s career and reputation. His action has just created an internal conflict within team Pacquiao.

Internal squabbles within teams have never been good in sports. Who could ever forget the star-studded L.A. Lakers back in 2004?

They had Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’ Neal, Karl Malone and Gary Payton plus their legendary coach Phil Jackson but were crushed by the Detroit Pistons in the NBA finals, 4-1.

The Lakers were the heavy favorites but they lost not because of lack of talent but because of the ego wars between Kobe and Shaq.

Like the Lakers, Pacquiao will enter the ring on Nov. 14 also as the heavy favorite against the larger Puerto Rican. Pacquiao clearly has the edge here but we will never know what might happen if he gets distracted by all these issues in training camp.

We can never deny the fact that aside from being physically conditioned, a boxer also needs to be psychologically and emotionally prepared to perform at the top of his game.

The parties involved here, Pacquiao, Koncz and Roach, have not yet issued any official statements about this issue as of this writing.

Despite that, hordes of Pacman fanatics are already blasting away with comments, demanding Koncz to leave Pacquiao.

Personally, I don’t think boxing’s ultimate dynamic duo would go their separate ways just because of an adviser that has clearly been consumed by his hunger for more dollars.

From a logical and financial perspective, Pacquiao would earn a lot more by sticking with Roach as he is already accustomed to the trainer’s style.


Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 9, 2009.