By Chris Williams: Michael Koncz, the adviser for Manny Pacquiao, dismissed the report from TMZ’s website about the Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr mega-fight being ready to be signed off for their fight on 5/2 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Koncz said that the fight still has a couple of issues that need to be solved before the two fighters are ready to sign the contract, but he’s optimistic that those issues will soon be taken care of. Koncz doesn’t see those issues as being a big deal, but he doesn’t know how the other side views them.
When asked what he thought of TMZ announcing the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight as a done deal last Friday night, Koncz said via esnewsreporting.com “Did that statement come from Floyd? Until I hear it from Floyd directly, or until Floyd is quoted in a media outlet, I have no comment.”
Koncz is still talking about not wanting to spend a lot of money on marketing the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight by the use of tours. Koncz still thinks it’s better to save the money on advertising and let the fighters keep it. However, Koncz isn’t the one calling the shots in marketing the fight. That’s going to be done by Mayweather, Al Haymon and Bob Arum.
If they want to do it on the cheap like Koncz is suggesting, then that’s the way it’ll be. But it’ll be very surprising if Mayweather agrees with Koncz’s ideal of nickel and diming the marketing of the fight, because Mayweather is a smart businessman and he obviously knows that you don’t do things on the cheap.
If you look at the money the NFL has poured into marketing Sunday’s Super Bowl game between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, they’ve spent a ton of money in getting the word out to the football fans. They haven’t done it on the cheap because they want to save every penny for the players.
I don’t think Mayweather is going to fall in line with Koncz’s idea of being a miser when it comes to advertising the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight. Koncz seems to expect the media to do all the work in promoting the fight rather than the fighters and the promoters taking the fighters on tour of the world and U.S, and having HBO 24/7 and Showtime All Access specials.
Now isn’t the time to get cheap in marketing this fight, I don’t think. I see Koncz, and his thrifty ways, being overruled by smarter heads.
“This is the Super Bowl of boxing [Mayweather-Pacquiao], and I don’t think we have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on press tours,” Koncz said. “Let’s save the money and put it in the pot so the fighters can get it. The public and the media have been waiting for the fight for so long. There are two superstars. The fight can sell itself, so I’m hoping to convince everyone to do one city perhaps two at the most and that’s it.”
The way Koncz is talking about the fight, you’d think the purses for both fighters are in the low thousands rather than the hundreds of millions.
“We’re getting closer [to completing the negotiations], and I really believe it’s going to happen,” Koncz said. “We’re going to have to wait a little longer. There are a couple of issues that need to be looked over. I think we can get it done. I think there are some hurdles that we can overcome,” Koncz said.
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