PACQUAIO TO DECIDE ON WHETHER TO FACE AMIR KHAN IN HIS COMEBACK FIGHT
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 24 Aug 2015
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has said that eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao will be the one to decide on whether to face Amir Khan in his comeback fight after his unanimous decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr in the ?Fight of the Century? last May 2 in Las Vegas.
Arum told Sky Sports in Britain that he has had discussions with Khan who is the WBC welterweight Silver Champion about a possible showdown with Pacquiao ealy next year and will pass on the information to Pacquiao.
Arum was quoted by World Boxing Scene as saying ?This takes time and I will present everything to Manny and we'll see what happens."
The Top Rank promoter has already said a fight with Khan (31-3-KO19) can be made and Pacquiao (57-6-2-KO38) is "not ducking" him, so it could well come down to the fighter himself.
Pacquiao who is recovering from surgery for a tear in his right shoulder rotator cuff which he suffered during the Mayweather fight is reportedly recovering well and expects to fight in early 2016.
Khan and Arum have both indicated the fight could take place in Dubai, or somewhere else in the Middle East.
Khan, last July 30 said a fight against Pacquiao would be ?massive.?
Khan told Sports360 in Britain ?I?d love to take that fight. We?re friends but sometimes you?ve got to put friendship to one side.?
Khan said he believes a Pacquiao showdown ?would be amazing. If that fight does come off it would be towards the end of next year in Dubai. Obviously Dubai has a big Filipino community and a big British and Pakistani community, too. It would be a massive fight.?
The two fighters met in London in January. Pacquiao was in London where he had a private dinner with Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace, followed by a meeting with Amir Khan before flying to Miami, Florida where he attended the rehearsals for the Miss Universe Beauty pageant where he was a judge.
In an exclusive story in the Daily Mail Online, Jeff Powell reported that the two popular fighters ?came across each other again in a tumbledown corner of south east London and began informal man-to-man discussions about an alternative superbout in case Floyd Mayweather fails to call either of them for his next megafight.?
Powell noted that Pacquiao and Khan are friends and at one time trained together under Freddie Roach both at the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles and in the Philippine summer capital of Baguio City and also sparred occasionally before Khan moved over to train with Virgil Hunter.
The two fighters met up at the century-old Fitzroy Lodge Boxing Club in Lambeth.
Powell said Pacquiao and Khan stood in the old ring which has produced some of Britain?s finest prizefighters but declined the suggestion of swapping a few punches.
Pacquiao?s longtime adviser Michael Koncz who accompanied Manny said the talks went ?great.? Pacquiao was greeted enthusiastically by dozens of cheering young London boxers and their trainers as he came through a creaking old door. Many of the fans asked for his autograph.
Amir Khan arrived in his gold Rolls Royce a little later after a visit to the famed Wembley Stadium which has been mentioned as a possible venue should Khan decide to fight Kell Brook in what has been described as the ?Battle of Britain?
The British champion was also received a warm welcome and told Pacquiao, ?Good. Now we can talk.?
Powell said that Khan is aware that ?Mayweather versus Pacquiao is the $300 million spectacular which most of the world wants to see and that global audiences would have been excited to hear Pacquiao telling me: ?I think now that Floyd and me is going to happen. It looks like it.?
Koncz had earlier told the Manila Standard/boxingmirror.com that Khan was a ?front-runner? in case the Mayweather fight doesn't happen. He also said that a showdown between Pacquiao and Khan would be ?a very exciting fight? even as he added that Manny would be more than happy to do it at Wembley stadium.
Koncz was quoted as saying ?We are looking at that possibility and also Abu Dhabi as another potential venue. But of course we are still working on Mayweather? while Khan himself said ?Wembley would be a great stage for me and Manny and Abu Dhabi is very much in the running.?
Khan told Powell ?It was great seeing Manny again. We talked a bit about old times and also about the future. Although we have this friendship, if fighting each other makes sense then it can certainly happen.?
Pacquiao said: ?The dinner with Prince Harry was very enjoyable and I am really pleased to come to a boxing place like this' even as he confirmed that a showdown with Khan could take place.
Pacquiao earlier told Sky Sports News ?Yes, there's a big possibility, nothing personal.It's not difficult for us because we respect each other and we're just doing our job in the ring.?
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Ronnie Nathanielsz.
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