Roach won't settle for just an impressive win; Koncz airs side
By Eddie Alinea
PhilBoxing.com
Wed, 26 Feb 2014
Boxing great Joe Louis once said of his opponent: "He can run, but he can't hide."
This famous line could well be applied to the coming Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley grudge fight where the Filipino ring hero will be eyeing a knockout victory not only to avenge his disputed split decision loss, but, likewise, recapture the World Boxing Organization welterweight championship the undefeated American took away from him, thanks to what promoter Bob Arum referred to as the "Three Blind Mice."
No less than Pacquiao's chief trainer has repeatedly pronounced won't be satisfied that his pupil of 13 years will settle for just an impressive win even as he vowed prepare the eight-division champion put the elusive to sleep in their 12-round showdown April 12 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas.
"Our goal is to win by KO, nothing less, " Roach reaffirmed yesterday. "We will decide the outcome of the fight and not the judges."
Roach's statement actually echoed that of assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez, who oversaw the preparation since Pacquiao came back from the two-city, one-week media tour in Los Angeles and New York early this month.
"Si Manny naman din ay nagpahayag na kailangan mapatsulog ang kalaban. Marami na ksasi siyang naririnig na insults at patutsada galling kay Bradley na hindi na niya nagugustuhan (Manny himself stated the need to win by KO. He's been receiving so many teasing and insulting statements coming from Bradley which he doesn't like)," Fernandez said lasts Friday.
"Sabi nga niya sa amin, kapag nag-decide na tumakbo muli si Bradley gaya nang ginawa niya noong unang laban, nakahanda siyang humabol nang humabol at kapag nakipagpalitan, pupitaktihin siya ng suntok," Fernandcez related.
To accomplish the mission, the 52-year-old five-time Trainer of the Year, who just arrived in General Santos City three days ago, has scheduled a thrice a week sparring sessions until Team Pacquiao leaves for Los Angeles probably a week from now.
The sparring portion of an extensive training regimen he Roach himself charted started yesterday against unbeaten Lydell Rhodes, who has been in the country the past two weeks at the Pacman Wild Card Gym at the heart of the city and will continue every other day (Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday).
Initial skirmishes yesterday until Saturday, will be for only three rounds, Roach told this writer in a telephone interview. After which, the frequency will increase to four or five, depending on Pacquiao's physical condition following an almost three-week program of roadwork and gym activities dedicated to stamina building.
"Manny looks okay while doing the mitts with me yesterday (Monday)," Roach noted. "He's still a little heavy (due to the nearly three-month inactivity from the time he beat Brandon Rios last November in Macau), but I like what I saw in our first day on the job."
It wasn't decided yet when the team will fly to L.A. although Pacquiao's business consultant Mike Koncz hinted they may leave on March 8 the earliest, spend six weeks at his own Wild Card sweat shop before motoring to Vegas a week before the fight.
At least a pair more sparring partners are waiting in L.A. - junior-welterweight Kendall Holt, who reportedly sent Bradley to the canvas in a losing fight five years ago, and Steve Forbes. Roach was said to be eyeing one or two more.
oOo
NOTES: Manny Pacquiao's Canadian business consultant Michael Koncz sent OUTSIDE LOOKING IN a text message the other day apparently in defense of his stopping the fight of upcoming Ernie Sanchez against Diego Magdaleno three Saturdays ago at the C. Robert Lee Center in Hawaiian Gardens, California. The promising young Filipino fighter, who fought and won twice under the undercards of the Pacquiao-Bradley and Pacquiao-Marquez encounters two years ago in Las Vegas was substituted by Jorge Pazos of Mexico who lost via KO.
Koncz's unedited statement reads: "The negative allegations only come from managers and trainers that don't care about the boxers they're working with their only concern is how can they make money from the boxer and I am not concerned with their meritless and unfounded nonsense as my concern has and always be the health of the boxer."
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Eddie Alinea.
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