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The adviser of eight-division titlist and WBC junior middleweight (154 pounds) king Manny Pacquiao spoke to FanHouse concerning their decision to move to CBS-Showtime from HBO for the televised, May 7 defense of Pacquiao's WBO welterweight (147 pounds) belt against three-division, five-time titlist Shane Mosley, this, being Pacquiao's first time departing from the rival network.
Michael Koncz acknowledged a big advantage presented by Showtime's ability to televise a multi-part series that is equivalent to HBO's 24/7 -- on CBS primetime. There is also CBS's ability to reach 115 million homes compared to HBO's 28 million homes.
Koncz also addressed the notion broached by two-division champion, Bernard Hopkins, of Golden Boy Promotions that the 32-year-old southpaw Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts), who is pursuing his 14th straight victory and his ninth knockout during that run against Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), has not yet faced a top, African American fighter, if not, a young one.
Those fighters implied if not named by Hopkins would includes six-time champion Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs), WBC welterweight king Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KOs), southpaw WBC junior welterweight (140 pounds) titlist Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs), WBO junior welterweight champ Tim Bradley (26-0, 11 KOs) or IBF junior welterweight contender and former two-time champion Zab Judah (40-6, 27 KOs).
Pacquiao is coming off of November's unanimous decision victory over ex-champ Antonio Margarito, whom Mosley knocked out in the ninth round in January of 2009. Margarito has knocked out Miguel Cotto, who has decisioned Mosley.
FanHouse: Do you have a perspective on what Manny Pacquiao's thoughts are concerning what Bernard Hopkins has said about his not having faced a top notch African American fighter?
Michael Koncz: Manny's response to Bernard Hopkins is that Manny is a fighter and his job is to fight. Manny has people and a promoter, [Top Rank CEO,] Bob Arum, whose job it is to select the opponents.
So Manny doesn't pay any attention to that. Whoever is selected for him to fight and put in front of him, that's who Manny fights.
Are you aware that Bob Arum defended Bernard Hopkins' assertions as not being racist, acknowledging that there are no African American fighters on Manny Pacquiao's record?
As we've said before, I don't care what Bob Arum says or what Bernard Hopkins says. Manny and I have said before that we have no racist thoughts.
We don't select opponents based on color or whatever. We select opponents based on what's best for Manny Pacquiao and what makes the most economic sense for the fight. That's the only criteria that we have.
I've told you many times and it's the same thing. Manny's the fighter, and that's what he does and he leaves the business side of it up to me.
Do you agree with Bob Arum that Manny Pacquiao could have as many as six more fights remaining in his career, beyond and including Shane Mosley?
As I have said before, we don't know how long Manny is going to fight. He is enjoying it right now. He's enjoying training and it's not a job to him. He enjoys it.
But if Manny wakes up one morning -- whether that be one fight from now or 10 fights from -- and says, 'Oh my God, I've got to jog,' that's the time for him to quit.
Would you be in agreement with Bob Arum should he agree, as he said that he would, to consider working with Don King to promote a potential bout with Devon Alexander, whom King promotes?
When you talk about Bob Arum and Don King saying this, Arum and King are doing their job. They're promoters. They're promoting the fighters.
So when they make certain comments about the winner of this may be doing this or that, that's their job. My job is to protect Manny and to do what's best for Manny. Even though we work hand-in-hand with the promoters, there are two, distinct roles and economic duties that we have for the fighter.
Bob Arum is there as the promoter. Don King is a promoter, so they talk and they promote the fighters. Then it comes time for us to decide who the next right opponent is for Manny.
That's going to be the fighter who makes the most economic sense for us to fight. That's my job to do what's best for Manny. Bob Arum and Don King promote particular fights and particular boxers.
Sure they're going to throw Manny's name into the loop. I don't have a problem with that. But just because they're pushing for something, that doesn't mean that we're going to do it.
Under what conditions would you think Manny Pacquiao would entertain fighting perhaps an Andre Berto or the winner of this Saturday night's match up between Devon Alexander and Tim Bradley as a viable opponent?
We will not be watching the fight this weekend because at this point in time we have no interest or concern in who wins that fight. We're focusing on Shane Mosley because that it is a very dangerous fight.
As Manny said recently in an interview is that what most people don't understand is that Shane Mosley has a tremendous background. He fought in the Olympics.
If you compare him to [WBA junior middleweight champ] Miguel Cotto [whom Pacquiao knocked out in the 12th round] or if you compare him to Antonio Margarito then he's got a tremendous amount of experience over them.
He's got more experience than those guys ever had, and he's got power in both hands. You know, he knocked out Antonio Margarito and he damn near knocked out Floyd Mayweather in the second round.
These are Manny's exact words: He damn near knocked out Floyd Mayweather in the second round. So we're not under estimating Shane Mosley and we're going to train very hard.
This guy, Shane Mosley, has a tremendous amount of ring experience. As for the other guys, Bradley, Alexander and Andre Berto, Manny's response is, 'I don't care who they put in front of me.'
Manny's response is, 'If it makes sense, then I'll fight them,' and that's what a real champion does. We don't select opponents based on easy fights or non-easy fights.
Those are Manny's comments. A real champion will fight anybody. But it's also a business, and we have to look at all of the aspects of a fight.
When you're talking about the move to Showtime, Manny's comments were, 'Hey, I'm the fighter, and I just fight in the ring, that's my job.' So, again, once we narrow the opponents down, Manny makes his final decision.
His selection is based on all of the other critera, but we're not looking at any other fight right now other than Shane Mosley because Shane Mosley is the focus.
We have no interest in watching the Alexander-Bradley fight this weekend or whatever it is, and we have no thoughts of entertaining any other fights other than Shane Mosley right now.
All of the years that I've been with Manny, we've never looked ahead or talked about who we're going to fight next before the fight that we have in front of us.
When and where does he expect to start training for the Shane Mosley fight with Freddie Roach?
We'll start our training in Bagio City of the Philippines, and then train there for four weeks, and then, for the last four weeks, we'll move to Los Angeles and the Wild Card Boxing Club.
Can you further discuss the advantages of moving to Showtime from HBO?
As I've told the media before, we've had a great experience with HBO. There are no complaints there. But we've felt that there was an advantage because of the fact that CBS has an audience base of over 100 million.
We just think that it's worth a chance and it's worth a change because we're trying to, again, make Manny that rock star -- that cross over star. In order to accomplish that we need to get him exposure outside of the hard-core boxing fans.
And I think that the 60 minutes episode that CBS did on us last year was a piece that was very well done and received very well. The network thought so highly of it that they put President Barack ***** on the same show as Manny.
They did a tremendous job, and they helped to increase Manny's popularity again. What we're trying to do, again, is to make Manny Pacquiao a household name outside of the hard-core boxing fans.
I think that because of Manny's character and Manny's appeal that there is no better person to try to do that with other than Manny, and I think that CBS understands that. That's why they have agreed to work with us on this.
Assuming that this is successful, do you believe that Manny Pacquiao should get credit for helping to bring boxing back into the mainstream?
I absolutely think that. I think that if our calculations prove correct concerning what this move to CBS and Showtime and is going to do, as we expect, then, yes, Manny should be credited for doing that.
Manny is a non-American, an Asian fighter and boxer who is bringing the sport back to the American public on free television.
Koncz doing the old flip flopping side show routine. At least they admit they sell their figts to the clueless general public because they know true boxing fans know they are a complete, hype job, fraudulent joke. Like it or not.
Michael Koncz acknowledged a big advantage presented by Showtime's ability to televise a multi-part series that is equivalent to HBO's 24/7 -- on CBS primetime. There is also CBS's ability to reach 115 million homes compared to HBO's 28 million homes.
Koncz also addressed the notion broached by two-division champion, Bernard Hopkins, of Golden Boy Promotions that the 32-year-old southpaw Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts), who is pursuing his 14th straight victory and his ninth knockout during that run against Mosley (46-6-1, 39 KOs), has not yet faced a top, African American fighter, if not, a young one.
Those fighters implied if not named by Hopkins would includes six-time champion Floyd Mayweather (41-0, 25 KOs), WBC welterweight king Andre Berto (27-0, 21 KOs), southpaw WBC junior welterweight (140 pounds) titlist Devon Alexander (21-0, 13 KOs), WBO junior welterweight champ Tim Bradley (26-0, 11 KOs) or IBF junior welterweight contender and former two-time champion Zab Judah (40-6, 27 KOs).
Pacquiao is coming off of November's unanimous decision victory over ex-champ Antonio Margarito, whom Mosley knocked out in the ninth round in January of 2009. Margarito has knocked out Miguel Cotto, who has decisioned Mosley.
FanHouse: Do you have a perspective on what Manny Pacquiao's thoughts are concerning what Bernard Hopkins has said about his not having faced a top notch African American fighter?
Michael Koncz: Manny's response to Bernard Hopkins is that Manny is a fighter and his job is to fight. Manny has people and a promoter, [Top Rank CEO,] Bob Arum, whose job it is to select the opponents.
So Manny doesn't pay any attention to that. Whoever is selected for him to fight and put in front of him, that's who Manny fights.
Are you aware that Bob Arum defended Bernard Hopkins' assertions as not being racist, acknowledging that there are no African American fighters on Manny Pacquiao's record?
As we've said before, I don't care what Bob Arum says or what Bernard Hopkins says. Manny and I have said before that we have no racist thoughts.
We don't select opponents based on color or whatever. We select opponents based on what's best for Manny Pacquiao and what makes the most economic sense for the fight. That's the only criteria that we have.
I've told you many times and it's the same thing. Manny's the fighter, and that's what he does and he leaves the business side of it up to me.
Do you agree with Bob Arum that Manny Pacquiao could have as many as six more fights remaining in his career, beyond and including Shane Mosley?
As I have said before, we don't know how long Manny is going to fight. He is enjoying it right now. He's enjoying training and it's not a job to him. He enjoys it.
But if Manny wakes up one morning -- whether that be one fight from now or 10 fights from -- and says, 'Oh my God, I've got to jog,' that's the time for him to quit.
Would you be in agreement with Bob Arum should he agree, as he said that he would, to consider working with Don King to promote a potential bout with Devon Alexander, whom King promotes?
When you talk about Bob Arum and Don King saying this, Arum and King are doing their job. They're promoters. They're promoting the fighters.
So when they make certain comments about the winner of this may be doing this or that, that's their job. My job is to protect Manny and to do what's best for Manny. Even though we work hand-in-hand with the promoters, there are two, distinct roles and economic duties that we have for the fighter.
Bob Arum is there as the promoter. Don King is a promoter, so they talk and they promote the fighters. Then it comes time for us to decide who the next right opponent is for Manny.
That's going to be the fighter who makes the most economic sense for us to fight. That's my job to do what's best for Manny. Bob Arum and Don King promote particular fights and particular boxers.
Sure they're going to throw Manny's name into the loop. I don't have a problem with that. But just because they're pushing for something, that doesn't mean that we're going to do it.
Under what conditions would you think Manny Pacquiao would entertain fighting perhaps an Andre Berto or the winner of this Saturday night's match up between Devon Alexander and Tim Bradley as a viable opponent?
We will not be watching the fight this weekend because at this point in time we have no interest or concern in who wins that fight. We're focusing on Shane Mosley because that it is a very dangerous fight.
As Manny said recently in an interview is that what most people don't understand is that Shane Mosley has a tremendous background. He fought in the Olympics.
If you compare him to [WBA junior middleweight champ] Miguel Cotto [whom Pacquiao knocked out in the 12th round] or if you compare him to Antonio Margarito then he's got a tremendous amount of experience over them.
He's got more experience than those guys ever had, and he's got power in both hands. You know, he knocked out Antonio Margarito and he damn near knocked out Floyd Mayweather in the second round.
These are Manny's exact words: He damn near knocked out Floyd Mayweather in the second round. So we're not under estimating Shane Mosley and we're going to train very hard.
This guy, Shane Mosley, has a tremendous amount of ring experience. As for the other guys, Bradley, Alexander and Andre Berto, Manny's response is, 'I don't care who they put in front of me.'
Manny's response is, 'If it makes sense, then I'll fight them,' and that's what a real champion does. We don't select opponents based on easy fights or non-easy fights.
Those are Manny's comments. A real champion will fight anybody. But it's also a business, and we have to look at all of the aspects of a fight.
When you're talking about the move to Showtime, Manny's comments were, 'Hey, I'm the fighter, and I just fight in the ring, that's my job.' So, again, once we narrow the opponents down, Manny makes his final decision.
His selection is based on all of the other critera, but we're not looking at any other fight right now other than Shane Mosley because Shane Mosley is the focus.
We have no interest in watching the Alexander-Bradley fight this weekend or whatever it is, and we have no thoughts of entertaining any other fights other than Shane Mosley right now.
All of the years that I've been with Manny, we've never looked ahead or talked about who we're going to fight next before the fight that we have in front of us.
When and where does he expect to start training for the Shane Mosley fight with Freddie Roach?
We'll start our training in Bagio City of the Philippines, and then train there for four weeks, and then, for the last four weeks, we'll move to Los Angeles and the Wild Card Boxing Club.
Can you further discuss the advantages of moving to Showtime from HBO?
As I've told the media before, we've had a great experience with HBO. There are no complaints there. But we've felt that there was an advantage because of the fact that CBS has an audience base of over 100 million.
We just think that it's worth a chance and it's worth a change because we're trying to, again, make Manny that rock star -- that cross over star. In order to accomplish that we need to get him exposure outside of the hard-core boxing fans.
And I think that the 60 minutes episode that CBS did on us last year was a piece that was very well done and received very well. The network thought so highly of it that they put President Barack ***** on the same show as Manny.
They did a tremendous job, and they helped to increase Manny's popularity again. What we're trying to do, again, is to make Manny Pacquiao a household name outside of the hard-core boxing fans.
I think that because of Manny's character and Manny's appeal that there is no better person to try to do that with other than Manny, and I think that CBS understands that. That's why they have agreed to work with us on this.
Assuming that this is successful, do you believe that Manny Pacquiao should get credit for helping to bring boxing back into the mainstream?
I absolutely think that. I think that if our calculations prove correct concerning what this move to CBS and Showtime and is going to do, as we expect, then, yes, Manny should be credited for doing that.
Manny is a non-American, an Asian fighter and boxer who is bringing the sport back to the American public on free television.
Koncz doing the old flip flopping side show routine. At least they admit they sell their figts to the clueless general public because they know true boxing fans know they are a complete, hype job, fraudulent joke. Like it or not.
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