‘Ipe’ dropped Koncz to the floor with left-right combinations

‘Ipe’ dropped Koncz to the floor with left-right combinations

By EDDIE G. ALINEA


It looks like each time Manny Pacquiao’s self-anointed adviser Michael Koncz does something or make statements to make him look good in the eyes of his boss, always the opposite results happen.


Sometime last week, before the seven-division world champion left for New York to accept his third “Fighter of the Year” and his first “Fighter of the Decade” awards from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Koncz was again involved in a violent incident, this time earning the ire of multi-awarded actor Philip Salvador.


The incident, according to a member of the entertainment media who was there, during the launching of Pacquiao’s Aray Ko, Galing Ko” television promo for a pain reliever held in a Makati City where Koncz and Salvador, a martial arts practitioner, had a verbal altercation that led to a scuffle.


The source told the Manila Times Koncz, a Canadian member of the Team Pacquiao notorious for his insulting statements even to members of his team, fans and even the media, gave sarcastic remarks to a question posed by Salvador on something about the boxing icon’s congressional victory in the recent national elections.


Such remarks led Salvador, to throw combination of punches that fell Koncz to the floor where the actor continued pummeling him with lefts and rights even as Pacquiao himself watched elated.


Other witnesses heard Pacquiao shouting to Salvador, a good friend: “Sige pa, banatan mo pa.”


The confrontation, witnesses said, lasted for about 10 minutes after cooler heads, including Pacquiao’s wife Jinkee, legal adviser, Atty. Gacal and Eric Pineda succeeded in pacifying Koncz, while fellow actor Chris Aguilar prevailing on Salvador to stop attacking.


The fight ended with both of Koncz’s eyes blackened.

It was not the first time that Koncz earned the ire of people trying to get near to Pacquiao on many occasions.


When Pacquiao was training in Baguio city for his fight with Miguel Cotto, he once shoved a reporter trying to cover one of the champ’s training sessions.


The media man resisted though and, pointing a finger to the Canadian, told him, “ Don’t do that to a Filipino media men again.”


Koncz and the same reporter met again once, this time in Manila during a hastily called press conference where the Canadian mentioned something about receiving calls from Filipino media men earlier that day asking “stupid” questions.


When the obviously irked media man asked him what those “stupid” questions were, he could not answer prompting the former to tell him to stop heaping insulting remarks to Filipino newspapermen.


Even Pacquiao’s American physical conditioning coach Alex Ariza was reported to have slapped Koncz during an altercation after the latter suggested not to allow the former in Padquiao’s corner for that fight against Cotto.


It is no secret that even the Filipino’s chief trainer Freddie Roach has a running feud with Koncz who, reports are, has been trying all he can for Manny to fire the owner of the wild Card Gym in Los Angeles as fight tactician.