Freddie Roach:"Mike Koncz has been trying to get rid of me for a long time"

“Before his last fight, I was working with as usual,” Roach told me Monday afternoon at the Wild Card, “and Mike Koncz told me I was no longer in charge and that Buboy was in charge of all of Manny’s fighters. I said no problem. So now (Buboy trained and Koncz managed fighters] have lost five in a row. And the thing is Buboy is a great guy and a real good helper but he doesn’t have the experience in a world title type situation to handle these guys. I mean, Buboy is a nice kid and he has learned and so forth but he’s just not a lead guy yet. He doesn’t have the mindset of a boxer to me.” A few weeks back I had the chance to watch Buboy work with Concepcion as they prepared to get devastated by Juan Manuel Lopez. Watching Buboy work the mitts and go through the paces with Concepcion,I wondered where Freddie was and why he was not with Bernabe anymore. Now, thinking back, the question is, why replace a trainer as experienced as Roach with someone who has been in the corner of Pacquiao for years but isn’t exactly experienced in the lead position. “What is Buboy’s boxing background?” I asked Roach. Roach smiles good naturedly, “Hanging around Manny Pacquiao. They’re best friends since growing up.” Koncz is a shadowy figure to many. One source told me he had been put in place by Top Rank to watch over Manny’s best interests. Another says he is a hanger on who wheedled himself into position. In any case, he came on the scene suddenly as if the stage directions in the third act of a really good play said “Enter shady guy.” In any case, whomever he is and wherever he came from, he’s on a serious losing streak with Manny’s stable of fighters taking the brunt of his mistakes. “ is an advisor to Manny Pacquiao. That is the official statement,” Roach said. “He manages and books the fights for all of Manny Pacquiao’s fighters. He has booked five in a row and lost them all. These guys, they don’t have an experienced corner, they are not going to win. They are not preparing properly for the fights, for the styles, because Buboy doesn’t know styles.” Roach explained how he met the man who would later do his best to usurp him. “ was trying to get Ike Ibeabuchi out of jail,” explained Roach of his meeting with Koncz several years ago before Manny Pacquaio and Pound for Pound were ever put in the same sentence. “ said he was trying to get Ike out and that I was the best trainer in the world and would I train him. That’s how Mike Koncz came to meet me. He said I was the best trainer in the world back then but he has changed his mind now. didn’t work. But later, I introduced him to Manny as a friendly gesture. He gave Pacquiao his sob story and Pacquiao gave him his job. So it’s actually my fault.” Roach laughed at this and added “The thing is Mike Koncz has been trying to get rid of me for a long time. He says Manny would be here without me. That he does all the work. Koncz has been trying to get me out for a long time. Obviously Buboy would be my replacement and they would lose.” Considering how long it took Pacquiao and Roach to get where they are, what sense does it make to make a power play like this on the eve of the last few fights of Pacquiao’s career? The chemistry between fighter and trainer is something you just don’t tinker with at this late stage. But as usual, decisions like this come down to one thing and good sense is rarely that it. “Michael Koncz says I make too much money,” said Roach. “The thing is, I guess, the less Manny gives out, the more he can steal.” In the end, Roach feels confident that the bond between him and Manny goes beyond the hangers on and all the trappings of success. As for their business arrangement, Roach makes what he did when Pacquiao first began fighting under his tutelage, a standard trainer’s ten percent. So will Koncz be able to pull off this latest plan to oust Roach? “It will never happen,” Roach insisted. “Manny is way too smart. He will never let that happen.” Speaking of Manny, Roach said he had spoken to him briefly since he became Congressman Pacquiao. “I spoke to him in New York to congratulate him,” said Roach. “We didn’t talk about boxing at all. We talked about how it is in congress. He is really happy about that. Really excited. He wants to help his country.” Roach seemed to take all of this in stride. Manny getting into movies or politics doesn’t seem to faze Roach at all. In fact, like few others, he understands his fighter need to keep busy. It is simply his way and not a sign he is bored with fighting in any way. “He’s going to school again and so forth,” explained Roach. “But he’s a multi-tasker. He likes staying busy. I’m sure he is playing basketball every day, also. It’s how he stays in shape; he runs a lot. I don’t really want him in the gym right now. Let him run it out and then eight weeks before the fight and we’ll get ready for whoever they put in front of us.” Just who that next opponent will be remains to be seen. The countdown for Floyd to sign as of Monday was five more days and then Team Pacquiao moves on. “Everyone in the world wants the Mayweather fight, including myself and Manny,” Roach said. “But the thing is I’m not going to lose sleep anymore. Whoever they put in front of us I’m happy with as long as it’s a legitimate opponent because obviously it’s pay per view so it’s going to have to sell. Marquez, Cotto, Marquez. You know, there are fights out there that are actually better than the Mayweather fight because they are more exciting. Mayweather, he’ll run from Manny and run and run and run. He’s doing that before he gets in the ring.” Should Mayweather not sign, the options look to be either Antonio Margarito wherever he can get licensed or Miguel Cotto in a rematch few, in any want, despite the fact that Cotto won a belt recently at 154 pounds when he stopped an injured Yuri Foreman at Yankees Stadium last month. By his tone, Roach seemed to understand that the public might not be into this fight but entertained the thought nonetheless. “Well, won a title and it would be for Manny’s 8th world title so it gives it some legitimacy,” Roach said. “I think if fought one more it would make it even better. It would show he is better at that weight. You know they are talking about a catch weight but I say we fight him at 154. Manny beats him any day of the week. I don’t think Cotto is any better than he was last time. He says he is better at that weight maybe we’ll see.” Should that fight happen, one storyline we will be sure to see is how Cotto has become a new fighter under the tutelage of Hall of Fame trainer Manny Steward. Roach welcomed the challenge. “The thing is Emanuel Steward will do his job I will do my job and the best fighter will win the fight,” said Roach. “The trainer will get credit for that but I look forward to that.” The talk turned to the rest of Roach’s stable. Not much is known yet about the status of Amir Khan’s next opponent so we left that fighter alone. But Roach has a plethora of talent, the youngest of which, Jose Benavidez, is away on a much need break after a torrid pace to start his pro career. “Yeah has been back to back fighting, really busy, so we gave him a little time off,” explained Roach of Benavidez who has fought 7 times in 6 months. “He is still young, you know? He’s doing really well. I am really happy with where he is at right now. Give him a couple weeks off and we’ll get him back. Then we’ll step up the quality of his opponents a little bit. We tried to do that in our last fight but we ended up with a guy who had been stopped before. That still didn’t change anything. He’s doing fine. He is still the best prospect in the gym.” Another young charge, Jamie Cavanaugh is back in the UK at the moment handling some visas issues but should return soon and cruiserweight Lateef Kayode, who fights on August 6 on Showtime for a North American title. But few if any of his fighters give hi quite the satisfaction that his newest charge does. Roach is the trainer for Shaquille O’Neal on his ‘Shaq vs.” show. In his next fight, Shaq takes on Shane Mosley. Roach was mum on the record about the episode. “I get to spend time with my younger fighters, so it’s good,” said Roach of the time between Pacquiao fights. “Then I get to spend a couple days with Shaq for the Shaq vs. show. It’s really fun because is such a great guy. He and Charles Barkley are my two favorite athletes in the world and I get to see them play against each other in golf.” As for his latest high profile fighter, one Julio Caesar Chavez, rumors have swirled in recent days he may face Kelly Pavlik or Ricardo Mayorga next. While Roach neither confirmed or denied the opponents, he expressed an interest to wait a couple fights before taking a name like that on. “I want one or two more fights with first before we go after any names like that,” said Roach. “Let’s have an eight week training camp and see what we can do. We did well with a four week training camp. We can do better once we get to know each other a little bit more. So I’d like one or two more fights and the Cotto, Pavlik, any of those guys. No problem.” So now we wait. By the time you read this it will be four days and counting for the man many regard as the best boxer on the planet to sign a contract that will set him on a course towards the man many regard as the best fighter in the world. When asked about the contract and what it entailed, Roach smiled, and said simply “Bob told me ‘We agreed to everything. It’s now up to Floyd.”