Pacquiao's Adviser Favors Mosley, Talks Cotto, Marquez
By Lem Satterfield
Print this page|EmailShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on DiggShare on Lifestream
On December 12, Top Rank Promotions CEO Bob Arum will leave for the Philippines, where he will meet with eight-division king Manny Pacquiao and the fighter's adviser, Michael Koncz, regarding a potential April 16 HBO pay per view televised bout at the MGM in Las Vegas.
Arum will present Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) with the proposals from the representatives of five-time titlist "Sugar" Shane Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), WBO and WBA lightweight (135 pounds) champion Juan Manuel Marquez (51-5-1, 38 KOs) and WBC welterweight (147 pounds) belt-holder Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KOs) for consideration, this, if the promoter has not yet heard from six-time champion Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs), who is the preferred match up above all.
In this Q&A, Koncz discussed not only each of the candidates' situations, but also, a recent conversation he had with WBA junior middleweight king Miguel Cotto (35-2, 28 KOs) of Puerto Rico, whom Pacquiao dethroned as WBO welterweight champ by 12th-round knockout in November of 2009. Marquez is promoted by Golden Boy Promotions, and Berto, by Lou DiBella.
FanHouse: Is Shane Mosley still the front runner of the three candidates?
Michael Koncz: Bob Arum has written proposals from everybody and he's going to provide those to me, obviously. I'll take those to Manny and we'll sit down with Manny. Is my recommendation still going to be Shane Mosley?
I believe so, unless something has drastically changed in these written proposals that Arum has received and which will be transmitted to me later this afternoon.
What are your impressions of the Juan Manuel Marquez proposal?
I've been aware of some numbers that were given to me last week by Bob Arum. When I contacted Manny to relay those numbers to Manny, he said, 'Just wait until we you get to the Philippines and we'll sit down and we'll talk about it.'
At that time, I felt that, even without directly having seen the proposals from Golden Boy that the numbers that Marquez was asking for were too high. What happened with Marquez coming to the Philippines what was it, two years ago?
It was something like that where he insulted Manny and called him out at an event, challenging him to a boxing match and saying that he would fight him for a million dollars or less than a million dollars. What happened to that attitude?
If you take Marquez's pay per view numbers, well, other than Mayweather, you can do your own math. We know Manny's the draw. Marquez brings a little bit to the table, but definitely, nothing like Shane Mosley will, or like Margarito did.
Marquez never has had a fan base, and I still don't think that he has a fan base. And he never will have a fan base. The numbers with the Mayweather fight, you can attribute 80 to 90 percent of those numbers to Mayweather.
As far as I'm concerned, what Golden Boy paid Marquez to fight Mayweather, which was an in-house promotion, that's their business. Manny's at a point in his career now where we don't have to give in to unrealistic demands.
Would Marquez asking Pacquiao to make a catch weight of say, 142, or, 143, be an unrealistic demand considering that Pacquiao has asked the same of other fighters when he has been the smaller man?
No. 1, we moved up a number of different weight divisions, and that's where we utilized catch weights as we did with Margarito. We knew that Margarito was going to come in bigger, and that's where we used catch weights.
That's part of negotiations. We used it against Cotto and that's not something that killed Cotto because I knew he would make the weight because I had had discussions with Brian. They weren't happy about it, but they were willing to do it.
They were willing to sacrifice to make the fight, and, again, that's part of negotiations. Manny's in command, Manny's general, and he should be able to impose realistic conditions on opponents who want to benefit financially from his popularity.
Again, the same thing with Margarito. I could have asked for 147 or even 146, and that would have made Margarito suffer traumatically. But we didn't do that. But we're not fighting at 150 any more.
That is too dangerous for Manny to have that kind of weight discrepancy and that kind of a difference on fight night.
Can you shed light on what you spoke about with Miguel Cotto and his translator, Brian Perez?
We were at the fights at the Anaheim Pond. Brian, Miguel Cotto's right hand guy, he called me and asked me to come to the fights, and said that if I couldn't come to the fights, they wanted my address so that they could come to my house after the fights.
And, well, we chatted a bit. Not really too much about Manny. They just wanted to know if they could come to Manny's birthday party on December 17, which they are. It's going to be in General Santos City, Manny's hometown.
It will be a very elegant celebration. Cotto and Brian and his attorney, Gabriel Penagaricano are coming. We already know, and he's told Manny prior to when we were negotiating the Margarito fight, that he was willing and that he desired to have a rematch.
So we know that that's still on the table. When I called Brian and informed them that it was a business decision to choose to fight Margarito because the net would be more to Manny, they totally understood that.
They weren't angry or upset or ticked off that we chose Margarito. They understood that Manny did what was best for Manny economically. So, now, I sincerely believe that Cotto's coming to Manny's party solely to respect Manny on his birthday.
And then, also, their promoter, Peter Rivera, and [WBO featherweight (126 pounds) champion] Juan Manuel Lopez (pictured above, at right) are both coming with Bob Arum. It's just a sign of respect for Manny.
Once people get the chance to talk with and meet with Manny, they have no real choice but to like the guy. JuanMa [Lopez] and Cotto were in Texas [for Pacquiao's win over Antonio Margarito at Dallas Cowboys Stadium.]
I surprised Manny.I took them up to Manny's room, and JuanMa told Manny that he has a four-year-old son. JuanMa told Manny, 'My son thinks you're his hero, not me.' JuanMa said, 'He loves you and thinks you're a better boxer than me.'
That's what JuanMa told Manny. He got autographs from Manny for his four-year-old son. This was all the night before Manny fought Antonio Margarito. Manny is just that way. It's a job to him. He doesn't take anything personally.
Manny has become friends with Cotto, just like he has with just about all of his other opponents after their fights. The only one that he's really never socialized with is Marquez. That's the only one.
The other ones he spoken to and ran into after they've had fights, I mean, Marco Antonio Barrera and just about everybody else. We're planning on doing some co-promotions in Puerto Rico with Cotto's company and Manny's company.
It's Cotto Promotions and MP Promotions.
I understand that Manny went into Antonio Margarito's dressing room and hugged him after their fight?
I was there, yes, and that happened. We both went.
Who would you like to see Manny fight as his career comes to a close?
I think the perfect ending to his career would obviously be a Floyd Mayweather fight, but that's not necessarily something that matters any more. Manny has nothing left to prove in boxing. He's achieved more than any other boxer historically, I believe.
How many more fights is he going to have? He's going to keep fighting until he's not enjoying it. Right now, he's fighting because he is enjoying it. When it gets to the point where every day it has become work when he gets up in the morning to jog?
Then that's the point when he should retire. But the only one who is going to have that answer is Manny Pacquiao. At this point in time, I think, at times, he's rejuvenated. Some of that credit goes to Top Rank.
They've changed things up to different venues, even though we love Las Vegas. They've made the press conferences different, like, with the cheerleaders and stuff like that. That rejuvenates Manny, and right now, he's enjoying it.
It's not work for him and he's still having fun. And as long as those two elements are there, and it's fun, he will continue to box. We loved Dallas, and those were great experiences there.
But Manny loves Vegas and they've treated us well there and it's like his second home. We certainly hope that we can fight there, but that's up to the Nevada State Athletic Commission and its up to the venues there.
Even though it's like a second home, it's still a business, and things have to be right there for us to go back to Vegas. We'd love to fight in Vegas.
pacquiao
Posting Permissions
