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You will lose brain cells watching Rios/Pacquiao pre-fight promotion

By Zach Arnold | November 20, 2013

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Mocking Jews, Mexicans, and people with Parkinson’s. Not since the racialist crap between Rashad Evans & Rampage Jackson has my head hurt from such over-the-top testosterone-iffic BS.

And on top of it all, Manny Pacquiao’s manager Michael Koncz suffered a heart attack. Welcome to Macau.

The long and short of the gym brawl on Wednesday: Brandon Rios had two hours of gym time before having to leave to give Manny Pacquiao six hours of gym time. Freddie Roach stirred the pot when it was time for Rios to leave and Robert Garcia exploded when the war of words began, prompting a debate over who kicked whom.

Naturally, all the big boxing writers were in Macau for the fight and Top Rank staff were taking pictures. Alex Ariza, quite the charmer, mocked Roach’s Parkinson’s disease. Then the battle lines were drawn over who called someone a fucking Mexican, a fucking Jew, and a piece of shit.

Kevin Iole brings some clarity as to why Roach hates the Rios camp big time:

Seckbach is close with Rios’ camp and operated the video camera in 2010 when Rios and Garcia mocked Roach’s tremors from his Parkinson’s disease. There has been tension between them ever since.

Adding to the over-the-top nature of the proceedings was the Rios camp antagonizing the press from the Philippines, implicating that they are marks who give Pacquiao awards and instigators for what happened on Wednesday.

A writer asked one of the parties involved if they regretted what happened.

“Regret what? I regret that he can’t act like a professional and come over and have some dignity and class and just say, excuse me Robert, when you get done, can I have a couple of words with you for a second? How hard would have that been? Seriously, ask yourselves that. You guys are all grown adults. This isn’t a high school playground. This isn’t a basketball court. Unfortunately, this is a place that we all have to use and that we all have to share. Sometimes, with all the media, we have to be accommodating for times and some times run over. We didn’t complain when they wanted to take up the whole day from 11 to 5 o’clock. That’s six hours of training. They’re accommodating the interviews and things like that, the promotion of the fight.

So, this is how they plan to try to get last-minute buys to sell a PPV this weekend at $65 a buy. Good luck on that front.

Topics: Boxing, Media, Zach Arnold | 7 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

7 Responses to “You will lose brain cells watching Rios/Pacquiao pre-fight promotion”

  1. The Gaijin says:

    Rios’ camp members acting like total POS?!? Who would have thunk it?! Same guys involved in mocking Roach for the Paq-Margo fight…total punks.

    I like Rios the fighter, but Rios the human and his shitbag cronies make me sick. Luckily he’s going to get stomped out badly on Saturday.

    • david m says:

      Sounds like it was Roach acting like a douche, as he allegedly called Garcia a “fucking Mexican” and Elie Seckbach a “fucking Jew”.

  2. 45 Huddle says:

    Nobody in combat sports should be laughing about Parkinson’s Disease. They all have a chance of getting either that or some other brain issue.

    *******

    GSP owes millions to an old manager. Fighters are dumb and have to be careful who they do business with.

    If my memory serves me right… didn’t GSP get those deals himself which is why he no longer needed her?

    ******

    I was going to buy tickets to the Super Bowl weekend card in Newark. It is less then a 3 hour drive.

    I ended up not buying the tickets. When I went to check out local hotels, they were either sold out or $400 a night for a decent one. And that was for Friday night and drive back after the event.

    I wonder how much this issue could effect sales. It might be a wash because football will use it for an even longer weekend.

  3. Chris says:

    Cooler heads should have prevailed for both parties. Obviously Roach is still fuming about the way they mocked him a couple of years ago.

    Add Alex Ariza’s history with Roach into the mix and this is what you get.

  4. The Gaijin says:

    http://deadspin.com/dana-white-says-some-more-ridiculous-things-about-georg-1468907337

    Man – why can’t DFW just keep his mouth shut on this…it’s terrible PR and he’s just not going to win on this one.

  5. Zack says:

    Oxnard!

Comments to Zack

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