Bob Arum has enough on his hands dealing with a real fight this week. He certainly didn’t need to deal with a fight that doesn’t exist.
But the hall of fame promoter on Tuesday denounced a published report by the Daily Mail in London that Manny Pacquiao had agreed to fight Amir Khan. This while Arum planned on talking about a a bout between Timothy Bradley and Brandon Rios, who will meet Saturday at the Thomas & Mack Center for Bradley’s World Boxing Organization welterweight title on HBO.
“It’s total bull,” Arum said. “We haven’t sent an offer to anyone. Where he’s getting this (expletive) I have no idea. But even Khan’s uncle called me to apologize because they know it’s not true.”
Arum said Khan does remain in play as a possible opponent for Pacquiao (57-6-2, 38 knockouts), who plans to fight one last time on April 9, probably at the MGM Grand Garden, before turning his attention to his campaign for running for a senate seat in his native Philippines in May 2016. In addition to Khan, Terence Crawford is in the mix as could be the winner of Bradley-Rios.
“Here’s where we stand,” Arum said. “We have sent all the tapes of Crawford to (Pacquiao’s manager) Michael Koncz and Manny for him to look at. He already has tapes of Khan. We have to see what happens Saturday with Bradley and Rios. If Bradley wins, he may want to fight the winner of the (Nov. 21) Canelo (Alvaraez)-(Miguel) Cotto fight.
“Once we know where everything is at, we’re going to meet with Manny later this month, probably in Israel, and we’ll sit down and let Manny make the decision. But this is Manny’s decision, not mine.”
Arum said he shouldn’t have been surprised by the Daily Mail report written by Jeff Powell. But it still angered him.
“This is the same guy who said Khan was going to fight (Floyd) Mayweather and that Lennox Lewis was coming out of retirement to fight (Wladimir) Klitschko,” Arum said. “So you can see how much credibility he has, which is zero. He could have called me but he didn’t because once I told him the truth, there goes his story.
“I should be talking to you about Bradley and Rios. instead, I’m talking about a fight that doesn’t exist. There’s no deal. There’s no paper that has been signed. Anyone who says or writes that Manny has made a decision on who he’s fighting is lying, plain and simple.”
