The constant battle of wills inside camp Pacquiao

Pittsburgh Fight Sports Examiner | Scott Heritage
The battle between coach Roach and Michael Koncz continued yesterday, with more quotes from both on the HBO special for the upcoming Cotto fight. There have been some amusing moments from both leading up to this fight, and I thought I would look over some of the best from either side.

Freddie Roach:

“(Koncz's job is kissing) Manny’s a** as much as he can to keep Manny happy.”

"He is Bob Arum's guy. He is there on Bob Arum's dime and he promised Bob that he would deliver Manny to Top Rank. Arum got him an apartment in Vegas and he paid for it. I asked Bob and he said, 'No, I only co-signed his lease.' This guy knows absolutely nothing about boxing.

"This guy is a real degenerate," Roach said. "He is a leech in every sense of the word. He claims he played pro hockey. He claims he is a lawyer. Then he says he was a law clerk. He went bankrupt with the Ibeabuchi thing, or so he claims, and he is in bankruptcy now. He lost his house in Orange County and I hear his wife and kids had to go back to Canada.

"But the guy definitely weaseled his way into Manny's life. He speaks as much Tagalog as me, meaning not a word. The guy is sleeping on the floor in Manny's bedroom. Manny now sleeps in a bed but this guy is right there when he goes to sleep and right there when he wakes up," Roach said. "He stays with Manny 24/7. I know this character and he is only looking out for himself."

From the employer of both men...nothing. Manny Pacquiao seems to be fine with the fact that the two dont get along, and seemingly has his uses for both of them.

Unless their fued actually comes down to a short and one sided fight between the former boxer Roach and advisor Koncz, Manny probably won't ever get himself involved with it.

This despite the fact that the hatred between the two of them has actually spilled over into potentially affecting Manny's training in the past, with sparring partners, training locations and corner work having been decided by Koncz rather than Roach.

If this bothers Manny he certainly doesn't show it, and in fact more likely could be that he is the one making these decisions and using Koncz as a rather unpopular mouthpiece.

From Michael Koncz:

“No matter what you hear, there are no problems between Freddie and me. We had a good discussion earlier today. We agree this is Manny’s best training camp to date. Freddie, he’s Irish and we’ve had conflicts at times but it doesn’t mean we have to hate each other. My loyalty is to Manny. If Manny is happy, then I am happy. He’s my current employer. He pays me, no one else does. I have conflicts with (Bob) Arum at times also. I work only for Manny.”

“There’s no doubt that Freddie has brought Manny along.” Koncz begins. “He’s taught him things that made him a full fighter. On the other hand too, I have to be honest, I think that Freddie’s gotten to where he is because of his pupil Manny. Now would they have both got to the same level if they never saw each other? It’s a hard question for me to answer. Freddie still would have been a great trainer, but would he have been the greatest famous trainer? Maybe not. Would Pacquiao have been the best fighter in the world? I think probably.”

"Roach is not getting the 10 percent on this one," Koncz said. "Manny cut Freddie down by $200,000 so he will get $1 million. They agreed to that. It's an unnecessary expense at this juncture of Manny's career. He doesn't need Freddie. Freddie needs Manny. I told Manny that he trains himself anyway so why pay Freddie so much money. I am always looking for ways to save Manny money and that expense is unjustified."

Koncz and Roach even disagree about Manny's upcoming fight with Miguel Cotto. After Roach predicted that Pacquiao might get the knockout in round 1, Koncz had this to say:

“I believe it will happen but I don’t believe it will happen as quickly as in the [Ricky] Hatton fight,” “You know Cotto's a fighter in his prime. He's one of the best body punchers in the business, very strong."

“Certainly I believe Manny will prevail in the fight because his foot speed and his hand speed are just gonna be too much for Cotto. But the knockout, I think so but I don’t think so [it will happen] until the later rounds.”
Despite the fact that Roach and Moncz dont agree on really anything, it seems the situation wont be resolved any time soon. More than likely Pacquiao will retire before the situation comes to a head, and will then probably not have much need for either of them.

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-20066-Pittsburgh-Fight-Sports-Examiner~y2009m11d8-The-battle-between-Freddie-Roach-and-Michael-Koncz-so-far