What has so far come out clear about Manny Pacquiao’s next fight was that the previously announced bout against Australian Jeff Horn dragged and was ditched over a question of money, the size of the purse to be exact.
Horn is suddenly out of the picture, but this was already a foregone conclusion the moment Pacquiao announced last week he was in talks with United Arab Emirates for his next bout.
Promoter Bob Arum, missing through all the confusion, finally surfaced but the first thing he did was denounce the reported huge purse dangled for Pacquiao by unnamed negotiators in the UAE.
Arum said the “insane” sum turned Pacquiao’s head.
For the record, Team Pacquiao readily decried the $5 million offered by Australia to the Filipino boxing superhero, calling it peanuts.
There next came the report that there was an offer of as much as $38 million for Pacquiao to take his act to the UAE.
Meanwhile, Amir Khan proceeded to loom as Pacquiao’s most likely foe, following a poll personally conducted by the fighting Filipino senator among his fans on Twitter.
Khan topped that poll, with Horn taking the tail-end.
Of course, there are more compelling fights, such as the one against the sensational undefeated world light welterweight champion Terence Crawford, which fans have continued to ask for.
Team Pacquiao had dodged Crawford at least three times, while the eight-division world titlist proceeded to face very convenient opponents.
Do remember that trainer Freddie Roach had openly warned Pacquiao against Crawford, described as young, strong, talented and dangerous.
As for Khan, whose two recent KO defeats to Danny Garcia and Canelo Alvarez remained the most memorable en route to his negotiations with Pacquiao, the big question now is if there would be enough revenues to offset the huge purse involved.
Khan, so far, has loomed not a truly dangerous foe, and therefore not wholly saleable.
An unbelieving Bob Arum said he would readily come in and help his treasured ward put up a Pacquiao-Khan title bout, but only if the reported $38 million purse is readily available, not a figment of the imagination.