Koncz Backs Arum: Pacquiao’s Corner Didn’t Have a Strategy!

Thursday, July 6, 2017

Michael Koncz, the long-time adviser to eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao, agrees with the opinion of Top Rank’s CEO Bob Arum – who felt Pacquiao’s corner was overconfident and unprepared for last weekend’s world title defense against 2012 Australian Olympian Jeff Horn.

Pacquiao’s head trainer, Freddie Roach, and other members of the corner, admit they very surprised with the toughness and the durability of Horn. Prior to the contest, they were giving Horn zero chance of wining.

Horn upset the odds, winning a twelve round unanimous decision to capture Pacquiao’s WBO welterweight title before a crowd of over 51,000 at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Australia. The three judges were in agreement, scoring the contest 115-113, 115-113 and 117-111 for Horn (17-0-1, 11 KOs).

The veteran promoter believes the entire corner dropped the ball in what was a very winnable fight for the eight division world champion. And Arum says the entire corner should be on point here – including head trainer Freddie Roach, assistant trainer Buboy Fernandez, conditioning coach Justin Fortune and cut man Miguel Diaz.

“What the hell is wrong with that corner? Why wasn’t Freddie Roach out in the ring between rounds yelling at the referee? It’s his job, and there’s confusion in the corner with the languages, with Buboy and Miguel Diaz yelling and screaming like a maniac,” said Arum to The Los Angeles Times.

“And Freddie has to stay close to Manny to give him some advice … to me, they were so overconfident going in — Justin Fortune tells the press that the only way Horn can win is if Manny trips going into the ring. I had seen the kid. I told everybody he was a big, tough kid who could take a punch. I didn’t think he’d beat Manny, but it wasn’t the same Manny.”

Koncz, also felt the corner was lacking.

“The corner didn’t have a strategy. They were all amazed Jeff Horn was such a tough, rugged fighter and they didn’t adapt to it. There’s a lot of blame to go around, but the bottom line is the kid had a lot of heart and came to win and did everything he could to get it, and the referee let him do more than he should have,” Koncz said.

“If we go back to Australia, I’ll be more involved with the promotion and the selection of the judges and referee. I relied heavily on the WBO. Everybody can be blamed for everything for this. If we do have a rematch, there’s got to be a lot of changes. We’re not sure he’s ever going to fight again. I told Manny before the fight that if things didn’t happen, we would sit down and make decisions on what we need to do.”

www.boxingscene.com/koncz-backs-arum-pacquiao-corner-strategy–118194?print_friendly=1

By Nicolas Samuilov –

Highly motivated and with the confidence of what he defines as the best preparation of his career, Argentinean and World Boxing Organization (WBO) Latino junior middleweight champion, former world title challenger Javier “La Bestia” Maciel, had his first face to face with Englishman Brian “The Lion” Rose, before their highly anticipated WBO junior middleweight world title final eliminator, that will take place on Saturday, October 26th., at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England, televised live by TyC Sports in Argentina and lots of parts of America, Sky Sports in the United Kingdom, and AWEtv and AWEtv.com (3 p.m. ET).

In a packed jammed press conference on Thursday afternoon, with his motivation high as ever after finishing his intense training camp in Las Vegas where he stayed for three weeks, Maciel (27-2, 20 KOs), ranked WBO junior middleweight #5, and International Boxing Federation (IBF) #7, expressed his confidence for his fight against Rose (24-1-1, 7 KOs), current WBO intercontinental junior middleweight champion, ranked WBO junior middleweight #4 and World Boxing Council (WBC) #16, who also said his words. Highly optimistic, both of them made clear what they are here for: get the victory that will put them on the #1 spot of the ranking and become mandatory challenger of the vacant title that will dispute Armenian-born American Vanes Martirosyan and American Demetrius Andrade on November 9th. But for that, “The Beast” and “The Lion” have to take a big step before.

“I am very pleased to be here, for such an important fight like this eliminator. I came a long away from Argentina, to get everything. I come very well prepared, in a wonderful condition and in the best moment of my career. He is a good boxer, but I see myself stronger than him, and I’m ready”, said Maciel, who arrived from Las Vegas together with known trainer Miguel Diaz, and joined the rest of his team, headed by his manager and promoter, Mario Margossian, head of Argentina Boxing Promotions, his trainer Eduardo Molina, his assistant Gustavo Garay Rezola, his doctor Alberto Centanaro, his physiotherapist Cacho Latrónico, and Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield’s bursar Daniel Ramundo.

“I made the best preparation ever, the best in my life. The workouts in Las Vegas were very demanding, and I had first level sparrings, so I am in an excellent shape. We have watched several of Rose’s fights and studied him. He comes forward, solidly, he looks for the fight, always with a high and closed guard, in a compact way, which makes it difficult to connect him. I go forward as well, so it will be a nice fight. And it doesn’t matter he is fighting at home, I am ready to beat him”, added the 29-year-old Maciel, who after making the distance against WBO middleweight world champion Dmitry Pirog in Russia, on March 2011, went down to the 154 pounds -his real division- where he finished eight of his last nine victims in less than five rounds.

Without being any less, Rose took the microphone and said his words. “This is a massive fight. As I said before, it’s a 50-50 fight on paper. It’s going to be a great fight, that anyone can win, but I feel more than capable of winning”, said the 28-year-old Blackpool favorite, who was with his whole team, headed the Eddie Hearn, head of Matchroom Boxing, promoter of the event.

“I have watched him, and I think technically I’m a lot better. It’s just about putting that on practice on Saturday night. All the hard work is done. I’m not going to hold anything back, and I’m going to show to everyone on Saturday and prove that I belong on this stage”, stated Rose, who has knocked out former world champions such as Vivian Harris and Joachim Alcine.

But Maciel, who was named Latino Boxer of the Year by the WBO, and comes to this challenge after stopping in five rounds his countryman Alejandro Falliga, to defend his Latino belt for the fifth time on September 7th. at the Luna Park Stadium in Buenos Aires, has clear what he has to do.

“I am going to go wisely to look for the fight from the beginning. I want to fight for the world title so I’m going to go out there to win on Saturday night, and take the victory to Argentina. I feel great and I can’t wait for the fight to come. I am going to win the fight”, he concluded.

Maciel and Rose clash on a massive boxing night in Sheffield. In the other main event, undefeated hometown favorite Kell Brook (30-0, 22 KOs) will face former Ukrainian world champion Vyacheslav Senchenko (34-1, 23 KOs), in an IBF welterweight world title eliminator.

http://www.boxingscene.com/photos-maciel-more-confident-brian-rose-face-off–70955

Lleno de ilusiones y seguro por haber realizado lo que cataloga como la mejor preparación de su carrera, el campeón argentino y latino superwelter de la Organización Mundial de Boxeo (OMB), el ex retador mundialista bonaerense Javier “La Bestia” Maciel, partió rumbo a Sheffield, Inglaterra, para su trascendental desafío que lo tendrá enfrentándose al inglés Brian “The Lion” Rose, en una eliminatoria final al título mundial superwelter OMB, en lo que será uno de los combates estelares de la velada que se desarrollará este sábado, 26 de octubre, en el Motorpoint Arena de Sheffield, Inglaterra, que será transmitida en vivo a través de TyC Sports en horario por confirmar, para Argentina y toda América.

Luego de haber culminado una intensa puesta a punto en Las Vegas durante casi tres semanas bajo las órdenes del reconocido entrenador argentino radicado en esa ciudad, Miguel Díaz, el potente Maciel (27-2, 20 KOs), actual N° 5 del ranking mundial superwelter de la OMB y N° 7 de la Federación Internacional de Boxeo (FIB), emprendió este lunes el viaje hacia tierras inglesas junto a Díaz -que estará en su esquina- para su enfrentamiento ante Rose (24-1-1, 7 KOs), actual monarca intercontinental superwelter OMB, N° 4 del ranking mundial OMB y N° 16 del Consejo Mundial de Boxeo (CMB). Allí se encontrará con el resto de su equipo, liderado por su representante y promotor Mario Margossian, titular de Argentina Boxing Promotions, su entrenador Eduardo Molina, y su manoplero Gustavo Garay Rezola, antes de participar en los eventos promociones previos.

“Me siento bárbaro. Hice una preparación como nunca, sin dudas la mejor de mi vida. Los entrenamientos en Las Vegas fueron muy exigentes. Los guanteos fueron mucho más intensos y de un nivel muy superior a lo que podemos conseguir en Argentina. Además, con Miguel aprendí algunos aspectos importantes a tener en cuenta y afinamos muchos más. Era lo que necesitaba”, señaló el nacido en Florida hace 29 años y radicado en Malvinas Argentinas, quien liquidó a ocho de sus últimas nueve víctimas en menos de cinco capítulos.

Tras haber terminado en cinco asaltos con el bonaerense Alejandro Falliga para defender su corona latina por quinta ocasión el pasado 7 de septiembre en el estadio Luna Park de Buenos Aires, el galardonado como Boxeador Latino del Año de la OMB regresó rápidamente a las prácticas en casa antes de viajar a Las Vegas a finalizar su preparación en el gimnasio de la promotora Top Rank, donde tuvo como sparrings al ex retador mundialista estadounidense Mike Jones y al puertorriqueño Carlos De León Jr., entre otros. Y ahora, planea demostrar lo realizado.

“Trabajamos muy duro. Más allá de que siempre doy el máximo en cada entrenamiento, el ritmo y el estilo es muy diferente en Las Vegas. Apenas te dabas vuelta tenías grandes campeones entrenando en el mismo lugar que vos. Todo esto me obligó a dar mucho más de mí, a sacar todo lo que tengo adentro, que es lo que necesito para la pelea con Rose”, agregó quien luego de que se viera frustrada su oportunidad de enfrentar al N° 1 del escalafón superwelter OMB, el armenio Vanes Martirosyan, en duelo de altos clasificados mundiales pactado para el pasado 6 de abril en Macao, China, cancelado por lesión de su rival, está listo para su segunda presentación en el extranjero.

“Esta es la pelea más importante de mi vida. A pesar de haber tenido una oportunidad mundialista, ahora llego mucho más armado, con más experiencia y peleando en mi categoría. Soy otro boxeador. Y de ganar, iría por el título, que es lo que tanto deseo. Es una oportunidad que no pienso desaprovechar”, manifestó quien disputara el título mundial mediano OMB el 26 de marzo de 2011 ante el local Dmitry Pirog en Rusia, para luego descender a la categoría que mejor le sienta donde acumula nueve victorias.

Con el peso controlado y todo acorde a lo planeado, “La Bestia” ya palpita el duelo del sábado: “Estuvimos mirando varias peleas de Rose y estudiándolo. Avanza sólido, tal vez no con tanta velocidad, pero va para adelante compacto y muy cerrado, y es difícil entrarle. Yo también voy al frente así que seguro será un choque cuerpo a cuerpo, y una linda pelea. Tengo que ir a ganar desde el inicio, a imponer mi presencia con inteligencia”.

A pesar del roce que ha tenido su rival, que noqueó a ex campeones mundiales como el guyanés Vivian Harris y el canadiense Joachim Alcine, sumado a su condición de visitante, lejos está de amedrentarse. “Él peleó con boxeadores importantes. Pero más que nada me fijo en cómo pelea. Es buen boxeador, pero yo me veo más fuerte que él. No importa que él sea local. Tengo que concentrarme en hacer mi pelea. Estoy listo para hacer doce rounds, o para ganar antes del límite, si se da la oportunidad. Con la preparación que hice, ya no veo la hora para mostrarlo sobre el ring”, consideró.

“Entrené como nunca. Voy a salir a ganar, a llevar la pelea al trámite que más me conviene, y confío en que así será. Voy a ganar la pelea”, culminó.

El duelo entre Maciel y Rose será uno de los combates estelares que tendrá la noche de Sheffield. En el otro de ellos, el invicto inglés Kell Brook (30-0, 22 KOs) se enfrentará al ex campeón mundial ucraniano Vyacheslav Senchenko (34-1, 23 KOs), en disputa de una eliminatoria final al título mundial welter de la FIB.

http://www.notifight.com/artman2/publish/Reporte_7/Maciel_viaja_seguro_para_vencer_a_Rose.php

Highly motivated and with the confidence of what he defines as the best preparation of his career, Argentinean and World Boxing Organization (WBO) Latino junior middleweight champion, former world title challenger Javier “La Bestia” Maciel, travelled to Sheffield, England, for his highly anticipated challenge against Englishman Brian “The Lion” Rose, in a WBO junior middleweight world title eliminator, that will take place on Saturday, October 26th., at the Motorpoint Arena in Sheffield, England, televised live by TyC Sports in Argentina and lots of parts of America, and Sky Sports in the United Kingdom.

After finishing his intense training camp in Las Vegas, where he stayed for three weeks with well known trainer Miguel Diaz, Maciel (27-2, 20 KOs), ranked WBO junior middleweight #5, and International Boxing Federation (IBF) #7, flew this Monday to Sheffield together with Diaz -who will be at his corner- for his fight against Rose (24-1-1, 7 KOs), current WBO intercontinental junior middleweight champion, ranked WBO junior middleweight #4 and World Boxing Council (WBC) #16. There he will join the rest of his team, headed by his manager and promoter, Mario Margossian, head of Argentina Boxing Promotions, his trainer Eduardo Molina, and his assistant Gustavo Garay Rezola, to participate in the promotional activities.

http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/javier-maciel-confident-of-beating-brian-rose-in-wbo-junior-middleweight-title-eliminator-229400

From the moment he officially signed on to face Manny Pacquiao, there has been an unwavering sense of confidence coming from the camp of Timothy Bradley. An unbeaten titleholder in the junior welterweight class, Bradley will be moving up in weight to challenge Pacquiao for his WBO welterweight crown inside of the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 9th.

Bold proclamations and heavy bravado are familiar traits of underdogs in boxing but there are times when you can sense a genuine beleif coming from a fighter and his team. Such is the case with Bradley’s head trainer Joel Diaz, a man who has been guiding Tim’s career since his professional debut against Francisco Martinez in August of 2004 in Corona, California.

While other trainers may either be more outspoken or have collected more accolades than Diaz, who was a former title challenger and came from a fighting family, he seems content on staying away from the spotlight and focusing on honing Bradley’s skills as the Pacquiao clash inches closer.

I caught up with Diaz recently and got some updates on Bradley’s camp in Palm Springs, California.

Whether discussing how Bradley is looking thus far in camp, admitting that it will be quite the chore trying to find future sparring partners, or revealing a little bit of his blueprint as far as how to fight Pacquiao, Diaz spoke with a candid tone that couldn’t fully mask the eagerness he too carries.

In his own words, this is what Diaz had to share…

Positive vibes…
“Everything’s going real good. We’re ahead of schedule and everything is moving along real, real well. It’s just all positive vibes. Everything around the camp, everything is positive. And a lot of hype. Everybody around the team is very excited, because we see the improvement in Tim. His hand speed, we see everything that he’s been doing. Of course, it’s a good feeling and we feel we’re going to be victorious on June 9th.”

Maintaining Bradley’s progress in camp…
“I have to keep my schedule of workouts and maintain it, as well as the rest of the team. They have to do their job as far as keeping in touch with how he’s doing and what he’s doing. He’s been training already for a month and a half, but for three days a week. This week we started camp officially, every day, since Monday. [Wednesday] was his second day of sparring and he looked really, really good. As a matter of fact, for being the second day, he looked spectacular. That was something that that got everybody got excited. As soon as he finished his sparring, that’s all he did, because the day before he put in his gym work and then he did his conditioning. To me, it was basically focusing on sparring. He wanted more, but I had to cut the work.”

Keeping Bradley moving…
“But he’s complying pretty good and he’s not saying ‘No’ to what we decide, especially when I tell him, we’re still quite a ways ahead. I don’t want him to be burned out. Because he started his conditioning training, his running, and all that stuff he started a month ago. When it comes to coming down to the gym and I was like ‘No, no, no. We’re just going to come to the gym three days a week for now’. We have to watch his training and that’s my job. He looked good in sparring and tomorrow we’ll focus more on what happened today. On Saturday, it depends how he’s feeling. I might have him move in the ring with a southpaw, somebody who can keep him busy, keep him moving.”

The sparring partners in camp…
“These kids we’re sparring now, they’re good fighters but I don’t think they’re going to last. We got a couple of them already, they came down and sparred. Real good fighters, real strong kids, but after today, they can probably finish the week and then I got to send them back and get some other sparring partners. Because he’s dialed them in right away and all they do is they just become another opponent. And I don’t want nobody to get hurt. Right now, with Timothy’s hand speed, his movement, and his strength is becoming a big factor. I’m looking for another two or three sparring partners for the following week.”

The difficulty in recruiting future sparring mates…
“Let me tell you one thing; watching Manny Pacquiao, you cannot find sparring similar as Manny. That is very hard. What I am focusing on is just having some young, fresh fighters. I’m not looking for veteran fighters, old fighters. Because old fighters have a slow pace, they’re more experienced type of fighters. I want fighters that are aggressive, fast, and they’re constantly throwing punches. That’s the reason why I have two, three, even four sparring partners in line, because I’m switching them every two rounds. I’m switching them, I’m starting guys fresh, from the beginning. I don’t want to have a kid go four, five rounds by himself, because Tim, after the second round, he will start breaking him. So after the third round, they’re just taking a beating. My strategy right now is to have four fighters on standby and keep throwing them in there after every two rounds.”

Not concerned about Bradley’s weight…
“As far as his weight, that’s not even an issue. He’s walking around right now at 155 [pounds]. He says ‘You know what coach? By the end of May, I want to be at 148. I want to be slim and fast and strong’. I told him ‘You don’t have to. I need you to be at 150, 152’. And he says ‘Coach, for that fight I’m going to come in at 145, 146’ and I asked ‘What for? I want you at 147’. He goes ‘Because I want to be solid muscle. Fast, solid muscle’. With his diet and the way he runs, he’s always looking really, really good. The way he’s working out, he’s generated a lot of hand speed. He’s faster, he’s stronger, his movement, everything. We’re putting everything together. We’re putting the whole package together.”

Why you have to take risks against Manny Pacquiao…
“Look, me as a trainer, my plan goes in different stages. Early, middle, and end. And that’s the way it’s going to be. At the same time, it’s not going to be a game of chess. It could be, early in the rounds, early in the fight. Because we have to study the fighter, we can’t just get in there reckless. But it’s going to be a very exciting fight, because Tim wants to win it. I want to win. If you want to win against Manny Pacquiao, you’ve got to take risks. You’ve got to take risks, but smart risks. You can’t just get reckless. At the same time, you can’t just let Manny unload all the time. You have to take risks no matter what. Early in the fight, due to the fact that you have to study your opponent, of course it’s going to be a game of chess early in the fight. But after that, by the middle of the fight, I think it’s going to be a fight.”

By Chris Robinson

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=52030

Earlier today in Las Vegas, Nevada, budding prospect-turned-contenders ‘Lightning’ Lonnie Smith and NABO lightweight champion Sharif ‘The Lion’ Bogere engaged in some fast-paced sparring at The Fight Capital Gym right off of Interstate 15.

Bogere, a native of Uganda now living and training out of Vegas, is one of Golden Boy Promotions’ prized young hopefuls and is eyeing a February 25th return on the undercard of the Marcos Maidana-Devon Alexander HBO showcase in St. Louis, Missouri. The 23-year old lightweight possesses a 21-0 record with 13 knockouts and is trained by the respected Kenny Adams.

Smith too has a fight just weeks away as he is eyeing a March 3rd assignment with Woodland, California’s Vicente Escobedo. Fighting at 130 pounds, Smith now holds a 14-2-2 mark with ten knockouts and has reeled off nine wins in a row.

The action was brisk right from the start as Smith began applying his trademark pressure while Bogere boxed and attempted to counter.

Things got a little sloppy and heated on a few occasions as the two fighters wrestled with one another, almost to the point where they had to be separated in the second round.

It was rigorous work for both sides and you could sense the respect coming from each man despite the frantic pace of the rounds.

Trainer and cut man Miguel Diaz was in the building working with heavyweight prospect Andy Ruiz and stuck around to watch the action from ringside.

“Two young fighters like Lonnie and Sharif, you can see the difference in the weight, the five pounds difference,” Diaz coined of Bogere, who has fought as high as 139 pounds as a pro. “You can see that when Sharif receives the punches, his body is, how do I put it, real hard. It was good work.”

Last month Diaz had one of his latest pupils, Cuba’s Rances Barthelemy, sparring with Smith in advance of his February 3rd victory over Hylon Williams Jr.

Lonnie went at Barthelemy with reckless abandon during their time in the ring and Diaz would be the last person to underestimate the aggressive Smith, regardless of who he is squaring up with.

“When you work with Lonnie you got to be ready, otherwise he’s all over you,” said Diaz

By Chris Robinson

http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&opt=printable&id=49609