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Breaking News: Pacquiao-Khan Fight A No Go

Posted on 03/07/2017

Breaking News: Pacquiao-Khan Fight A No Go
By: Sean Crose

It ain’t happening, folks. Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan are not going to be meeting in the boxing ring, at least not anytime soon. Talk was that the phantom superfight would go down in the Middle East this spring. What’s more, both Pacquiao and Khan announced over Twitter that they would, in fact, be facing one another. As Boxing Insider reported earlier this week, however, there was a potential air of unreality about the entire affair.

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And now word arrives that the fight simply won’t be happening. ESPNs Dan Rafael writes that Pacquiao promoter Bob Arum informed ESPN “that the UAE deal for Pacquiao-Khan was dead.” UAE, which stands for United Arab Emirates, was said to be the proposed location of the hoped for megabout. What Pacquiao will do now is anyone’s guess, never mind Khan.

Pacquiao was originally supposed to face the widely unknown Jeff Horn, possibly in Horn’s homeland of Australia. That idea was clearly not in keeping with what Pacquiao wanted, however. Now that the potential of a big money dream match with Khan has morphed into a dream deferred, it will be interesting to see where things go from here.

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Could Pacquiao and Khan Have Been Catfished?

Posted on 03/05/2017

Could Pacquiao and Khan Have Been Catfished?
By: William Holmes

Catfish Defined:

Noun: A freshwater or marine fish with whiskerlike barbels around the mouth, typically bottom-dwelling.
Verb: Lure (someone) into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona

MTV’s popular catfish television show has been on air for six years and is extremely popular and shows no signs of slowing down.

This show highlights unsuspecting and naïve romantics falling in love with an online persona that’s often being controlled by someone that is not who the victim thinks they are. The popularity of the show lies in the drama and heartbreak that is shown when the lie is ultimately revealed to the heartbroken Romeo.

The naivety of these victims is hard to believe, and the desperation of these victims makes it hard for them to see past the smoke and mirrors of an obvious con.

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Which leads us to the latest talk of Manny Pacquiao facing Amir Khan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Khan was expressed his desire to fight a big fight in the UAE since the mega fight between Pacquiao and Mayweather in 2015, and has established financial connections to that area as evident by a recent MMA gym he opened in Dubai.

When Pacquiao and Khan originally announced their fight on social media it was scheduled to take place on April 23rd, with no pay per view partner or network partnership announced.

If Pacquiao and Khan, as well as Pacquiao’s long time advisor Michael Koncz, are announcing that the parties have come to an agreement, surely an official announcement will soon follow.

But there’s one man who hasn’t confirmed the fight is official, and he’s the only man that can make it a reality.

That man is Bob Arum.

He’s gone as far as to call the reports of the fight “total and complete bu****t”. The short time to the date of an April fight would make it nearly impossible to make it with the proper promotional muscle. Reports have been put out there that the fight has since been moved back to May 20th.

But even that seems questionable. A fight in May would require Pacquiao to go back on his promise to not miss any sessions in the Filipino senate due to boxing, and Ramadan the Muslim holy month, begins on May 26th.
So why hasn’t Bob Arum given his blessing for a fight in the UAE? The likely answer is money, or the lack of guaranteed money.

When Pacquiao fought Mayweather he made an estimated career high of $120 million. But his purses since then have been decreasing in size. His third fight with Timothy Bradley netted him an estimated $20 million, and his fight with Jesse Vargas only earned him a guarantee of $4 million, with a percentage of Pay Per View Sales added on top of it. He made more than $4 million for his fight with Vargas, but nowhere near the money he made with Mayweather and still likely less than what he made for Bradley.

Pacquiao was rumored to face Jeff Horn before the talks of a fight with Khan emerged, but his purse was only reported to be a guaranteed $7 million, with an unrealistic shot at high Pay Per View sales.
Amir Khan’s value is also no longer what it used to be. It was rumored that Khan made upwards of $13 million when he fought Canelo Alvarez; but he was brutally knocked out for the third time in his career.

Many consider Khan to be damaged goods.

Khan’s financial prospects in the sport of boxing have decreased even further when his longtime rival Kell Brook officially signed to fight Errol Spence Jr.

Pacquiao’s declining value must be of great concern to him and his team, and to Arum. But Bob Arum has been one of boxing’s most successful promoters for decades for good reason: he knows how to make money, and knows the difference between a good deal and a bad one.

Much like the hopeless romantic that gets so easily suckered by a fake online profile, Khan and Pacquiao appear to be desperate in their search for another big payday.

The question remains as to who is putting up the money for this big time fight to be made in the UAE? The logistics alone of putting a major title fight in the Middle East would be extremely difficult, and the time zone difference would have a negative effect on pay per view sales.

Bob Arum is a businessman, and he knows a good deal when he sees it and is willing to jump on it if it presents itself. The guaranteed money must be missing from this deal for Arum to refute reports of the fight not being made. It’s hard to imagine Arum turning down this fight if there was real money to be made for all parties involved.

Where’s the money coming from?

Does Khan have a Middle Eastern Prince in his back pocket that’s willing to finance the fight regardless of the financial risks involved? A third party has to be involved for Khan and Pacquiao to get the guaranteed money $30 million they think they’ll receive.

Pacquiao and Khan appear to believe that this group is willing and able to guarantee the purses they seek, but until Arum announces the fight as being official…

Pacquiao and Khan might have been catfished.

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Pacquiao Tweets He’s Negotiating With Khan

Posted on 02/23/2017

Pacquiao Tweets He’s Negotiating With Khan
By: Sean Crose

“My team and I are in negotiations with Amir Khan for our next fight. Further announcement coming soon. #TeamPacquiao”

So tweeted Manny Pacquiao this evening , adding intrigue to what has already been a series of statements from a variety of people regarding a Pacquiao-Khan bout over the past several days. If there’s one certainty, however, is that Pacquiao-Khan would be a good match. And yeah, people would probably tune in. No, it wouldn’t bring in anything close to a million pay per view buys, but it would certainly generate some genuine interest.

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Both men, after all, are fast. Exceedingly so. There’s something else at play here, though. Should they meet at the 147 pound limit, the winner of a Manny-Amir bout might help decide who the king of the welterweight division is. Seriously. It’s hard for me to see any of today’s top crop of welterweights besting Pacquiao, except maybe for Kell Brook, Errol Spence Jr…or perhaps Khan himself. Sure, Khan lost to Garcia a while back, but I think he could take Garcia in a rematch. What’s more, I feel Pacquiao would take Garcia to school. Same with Keith Thurman (except perhaps to a lesser extent than Garcia).

What people tend to forget is that Khan is an exceedingly good fighter. Yes, he has a devastatingly poor chin. We know that. You have to hit the guy, though, in order to best him. Let’s keep in mind what he was doing to Canelo Alvarez before the far bigger Canelo dusted him last year. Allow me to take things a step further: I feel Floyd Mayweather may well have avoided Khan. Believe it. It’s hard for me to see how facing Marcos Maidana made Floyd more money a few years back than a throwdown with Khan would have.

I digress, however. The truth remains that an aging Pacquiao is still a dominant Pacquiao. The man needs quality opponents, however. And Khan is certainly that. The problem, of course, is that people feel Khan is arrogant and delusional, that he truly believes he’s on par with Manny and Floyd when it comes to prestige. He’s not, and the image he’s presenting – intentionally or not – is hurting his brand in the eyes of fans. There’s something else at play here, too, though, and that’s the fact that most might want to see Manny face the likes of Bud Crawford rather than Khan. People think Manny is cherry picking at this point and Khan’s less than stellar resume these past few years may keep people from altering that opinion.

Still, this would be some kind of match, between two lightning fast, exciting pros. Indeed, I’ll go right out and say Pacquiao-Khan would make for a top level, regular broadcast HBO fight. Unfortunately, however, it would most likely appear on PPV.

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Breaking: Pacquiao Announces United Arab Emirates As Location For Next Fight

Posted on 02/12/2017

Breaking: Pacquiao Announces United Arab Emirates As Location For Next Fight
By: Sean Crose

“See you in UAE for my next fight. #TeamPacquiao”

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So Tweeted Manny Pacquiao Saturday evening. Assuming the letters UAE stand for United Arab Emirates, rumors that the PacMan would throw down in Dubai apparently are true. For Dubai is the biggest city in UAE, and it would be nothing if not a unique location for a boxing match of note. Previously, talk around the campfire was that Pacquiao would be fighting little known Jeff Horn in Horn’s home country of Australia. If Pacquiao’s words hold true, however, the land Down Under looks to have been pushed aside.

There have, of course, been whispers that promoter Bob Arum is “cashing Pacquiao out” by giving the man less than menacing challenges and planning to have him fight in unusual locations for the attention it would bring. If Pacquiao does fight Horn in UAE, it will be hard to dismiss those whispers as mere rumors. Perhaps Pacquiao can’t find a bigger opponent than someone like Horn or previous foe Jessie Vargas, but people will be well within their rights to wonder. With that in mind, the Filipino legend has won what seem to be countless titles, essentially taken on all comers for years on end, and clearly made himself a first banner Hall of Fame inductee.

Greatness has its privileges.

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