MANILA, Philippines - Freddie Roach is sounding the alarm over in Los Angeles and Manny Pacquiao is busy shooting a commercial somewhere in Metro Manila.
The three-time Trainer of the Year yesterday told fighthype.com he’s “pissed off” about Pacquiao’s failure to make it clear where he wants to train for the Nov. 14 fight with WBO champion Miguel Cotto.
Roach said he talked to Mike Koncz over the telephone the other day, asking Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser if they’ve made a decision on where or when the training for the fight would start.
“I talked to Mike Koncz yesterday, and I said, ‘Where are we going to train?’ He said, ‘I haven’t asked Manny yet.’ I said ‘you haven’t asked Manny yet? What do you mean you haven’t’ asked Manny yet.’”
All Koncz could say was that Pacquiao was busy making a movie, and Roach, as suggested by the report, must have blown his top when he said, “What the hell? You’re scared to ask Manny?”
Roach, normally cool, added, “I’m pissed off about it.”
Yesterday, The STAR failed to get in touch with Koncz but got through on the phone with Pacquiao’s lawyer Franklin Gacal, who said there’s only so much Koncz or anyone else around Pacquiao could do.
“It’s not only Freddie who’s trying to get it (training) started but us, too. But Manny’s too busy finishing his movie. We, including Mike, never fail to remind him of his commitments on and off the ring,” said Gacal.
“But he’s the boss. He makes the decisions. You know Manny. Freddie knows Manny,” said the lawyer, who said Pacquiao was busy shooting a commercial for a deodorant as of presstime yesterday.
“I’ve asked everybody concerned that all these should be over by Sept. 5. That’s pack-up time,” said Gacal.
Pacquiao said he wants to train in Baguio upon his return from the five-day press tour that starts on Sept. 10 and would take the Filipino pound-for-pound champion and Cotto to New York, Puerto Rico, San Francisco and LA.
Roach said Baguio is not the ideal place to train because of all the distractions. He said he fears the same thing would happen as when Pacquiao trained for some time in Cebu City for his last fight with Marco Antonio Barrera.
Roach said there’s Toluca or Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, or Cancun and even the Bahamas as the other places to train. But not in Baguio because “we don’t need vacation areas with tourists watching us and so forth.’
“Right now we really don’t know yet where training would start. But Manny still likes Baguio. ‘Yun pa din ang gusto niya (He still likes it),” said Gacal.
Source: philstar.com
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