Manny Pacquiao’s Canadian adviser Michael Koncz has dangled WBA welterweight champion Adrien Broner’s name as one of Pacquiao’s possible opponents for his scheduled April 9 fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Earlier this week, Koncz told mb.com.ph there is still enough time for Pacquiao to make the selection from the shortlist of possible opponents given by his promoter, Bob Arum. “There?s no rush,? said Koncz, who also mentioned light welterweight challenger Broner for possible inclusion in the list. If Koncz persuades Arum to include Broner in the list, Pacquiao can now choose from a shortlist of three possible foes which include Timothy Bradley, Terence Crawford and Adrien Broner. But even if Broner makes it to the list, his chance of landing a lucrative fight with Pacquiao is remote to nil because Broner is fighting under Al Haymon, who is a respondent in a lawsuit filed by Arum’s Top Rank Promotions (TR). The lawsuit, which was filed in court last July, seeks “$100 million in damages and an injunction preventing Haymon from continuing to put on his Premier Boxing Champions series, claiming he has violated federal antitrust laws and the federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act, which makes it illegal to act as both a manager (who has a fiduciary duty to a boxer) and a promoter (who does not),” ESPN writes. Broner, who is coming off a TKO win against Khabib Allakhverdiev last October, is set to face Ashley Theophane of England but no date and venue has been set. Most often, Arum prefers to match fighters who are under contract with TR, which is why Bradley and Crawford have been included in the list. This was evident in the case of Amir Khan, who was earlier included in the list although he has not been officially dropped. Arum admitted that he hoped Pacquiao would not choose Khan because he isn’t a TR fighter. ?Would I prefer it not to be Khan? Yes, but this is Manny?s last fight. I have a duty to him to present him all of the options. Do I hope he doesn?t pick Khan though? Of course [because I don?t promote him], but I don?t think he will pick Khan. Khan was an option when we considered having this fight in April in the Middle East, so he was a guy on the table. Now the Middle East is not on the table, but he?s still one of the guys on the table,? Arum told ESPN. While Broner could expect a career-high purse against Pacquiao, it would be a futile attempt for him to pursue as he would likely be treated the same way as Arum did with Khan.
