Pacquiao's Adviser Confident Nobody Will Collect Bounty
By Lem Satterfield
Michael Koncz, the adviser to WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao, is confident that none of sparring partners in Manny's Baguio City training camp in the Philippines, will be able to collect the $2,000 bounty that was placed on the Filipino fighter. Pacquiao's trainer Freddie Roach offfered $1,000 dollars, which was later doubled by Koncz to $2,000, to any sparring partner who could knock Manny down.
Pacquiao is gearing up for his HBO pay-per-view televised Nov. 13 clash with ex-titlist Antonio Margarito in pursuit of the vacant WBC junior middleweight crown. Pacquiao will bring a win streak of twelve consecutive fights, including eight knockouts into their clash.
Among the sparring partners for Pacquiao (51-3-2, 38 KOs) as he readies for Margarito (38-6, 27 KOs) are junior middleweights Michael Medina (24-2-2, 19 KOs), and, Glen Tapia (7-0, five KOs) and possibly junior welterweight champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 KOs). At this point, Koncz doesn't think junior middleweights Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. Vanes Martirosyan will join the camp.
"There's always been a $1,000 reward for that. But it's not a bounty. It's just an incentive. But we told the guys this time around that if you can knock Manny down, then you will get $2,000. I told them that. And again, it's not a bounty. It's just an incentive to make them work harder," Koncz said.
The added incentive to knock Pacquiao down has never been collected in the past, which makes Koncz very confident that nobody will collect it in the ongoing camp.
"That's why I'm not worried. Again, it's not something that we just conjured up for right now. It's been, I don't know how many fights. Maybe it's been six or seven fights ago that we came up with this and started to do this. Again, it's just an incentive to get the guys to work harder," Koncz said.
"Sometimes, when you have sparring partners who are in there with the best fighter in the world, they might have a little too much respect for him and, you know, not go all out. I'm not saying that that's what is happening now. But that's always a possibility."
The story on Chavez's participation in the training camp appears to change on a weekly basis, but Koncz didn't believe he would ever join the camp in the Philippines. He doesn't see Chavez, or Vanes, heading out to the Philippines because there are two weeks left in camp before they travel to Roach's Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles. Koncz says it's far more likely that Chavez and Vanes will join the camp in Los Angeles.
"I never expected Chavez to come over at all. I can't see Chavez coming all of this way just to spar. You know? He's one of the main figures in boxing. Would you go all of this way to spar with somebody? I don't think so. I was told that Chavez was coming," Koncz said.
"As to Vanes, I haven't talked to Freddie, and you know that he's in charge of everything that goes on in the gym. But he hasn't said anything to me that Vanes coming over shortly, and we only have another what, two weeks? So I don't really think that Freddie is going to bring him in."
Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.
