By Scott Gilfoid: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he was approached by a delegation from Dubai about possibly staging a fight in in that country between Arum’s fighter Manny Pacquiao and welterweight contender Amir Khan (30-3, 19 KOs) in 2016.
Arum is interested in possibly putting the fight together if he can. Pacquiao is currently recovering from a shoulder injury he suffered last April, and he’s expected to be recovered by early next year as long as there are no complications that impede the healing process.
Arum’s first option is to try and get Pacquiao back in the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. for a big money rematch in early next year, but if he fails to get that fight done, then someone like Khan will be an option for the 36-year-old Pacquiao.
“I just had a delegation in from Dubai trying to talk to me about a Manny Pacquiao fight sometime early next year in Dubai,” said Arum to the Telegraph.co.uk. “One of the names they suggested as an opponent is Amir Khan. That would be a possibility. We’ll have to see.”
A fight between Pacquiao and Khan in Dubai might be an interesting one for the fighters due to the tax code over there. It’s unclear how much lower it would be then it would if they were to stage in the fight in the United States and deal with the taxes. At the same time, they potentially save tax money on the U.S PPV loot that they would get for the fight.
It’s doubtful that a fight between Pacquiao and Khan would bring in a lot of U.S PPV buys due to Khan not being a household name with the casual boxing fans. He would have to be sold to the U.S public, many of which have never heard of the guy. Casual fans aren’t like the hardcore fans in the U.S.
They don’t know much about the sport other than knowing who the big stars are. While some of them will of heard of Khan, you can bet that the vast majority of them haven’t heard of Khan before and never seen him fight. For that reason, I don’t think it would be a good fight for Pacquiao to take. He’d be better off going after the big names that the casual fans have heard of like Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, Miguel Cotto or Mayweather, if Arum can get any of those guys to agree to fight Pacquiao.
“Apparently there’s great interest from Dubai in doing big-time boxing there,” Arum said. “It’s a great place for British fight fans to watch a fight.”
I don’t think it’s a great fight, but it’s definitely better than putting Pacquiao back in with Chris Algieri, Tim Bradley or Brandon Rios. If that’s all Arum has in store for Pacquiao in 2016, then Khan is a great choice for Pacquiao.
Khan has a fight scheduled next Friday against Chris Algieri on May 29th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. Khan needs to win this fight to keep in the running for a fight against Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather Jr.
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