Manny Pacquiao could pursue a fight against Amir Khan if Floyd Mayweather Jr. does not agree to face him by his deadline of ?this month,? the Filipino icon?s adviser, Michael Koncz, told RingTV.com on Tuesday.
Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 knockouts) is reportedly agreeable to the demands of Mayweather (47-0, 26 KOs), which include a 60/40 split of the purse in favor of the undefeated fighter, as well as the site (the MGM Grand in Las Vegas) and a drug-testing protocol.
?I truly don?t believe that Floyd is going to step up to the plate and fight us because he doesn?t give two s?ts about his fans,? Koncz told RingTV.com. ?We?re not going to sit around waiting for him. We haven?t closed the door on it, but we?re not going to sit around waiting, so we?re looking at other options.
?That includes Amir. I?ve spoken to Amir on a couple of occasions, and Golden Boy has talked to him, too, I talked to Amir directly before [Golden Boy Promotions President] Oscar [De La Hoya] and [Top Rank CEO] Bob [Arum] got involved. We?re not going to sit around with our hands up our butts.?
With Mayweather being aligned with Showtime, and Pacquiao with HBO, among the details discussed have been how the networks can jointly broadcast the bout. Officials from Showtime and HBO have reportedly discussed something similar to the Lennox Lewis-Mike Tyson joint pay-per-view broadcast in June 2002.
Key aides are reportedly working on Mayweather and Pacquiao through Corporation Chief Executive Les Moonves of CBS, Showtime?s parent company. Showtime?s Stephen Espinoza was reportedly part of a Jan. 14 meeting in New York that included HBO chairman and CEO Richard Plepler, HBO Sports President Ken Hershman and Showtime chairman and CEO Matt Blank.
?We?ve got a long way to go, and significant open issues to overcome,? said Espinoza during a Jan. 15 interview with RingTV.com. ?But we?re making meaningful progress, and we?ll continue to work at it.?
But Koncz said Pacquiao won?t wait much longer.
?But just because we?re looking at other options doesn?t mean that we?ve slammed the door on Floyd either. But I?m not very optimistic that he?s going to step up to the plate. We?re going to fight in April or May, regardless of whether it?s Floyd or somebody else,? said Koncz.
?We?re not going to sit around and let our world revolve around Floyd waiting for him to make a decision. We hope that he does the right thing and gives the fans what they want and see who the No. 1 fighter is, pound-for-pound. But I think that the only way to force that fight is that the fans are going to have to force it. We can?t do any more.?
