By Chris Williams: Promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank says Manny Pacquiao has to make a decision by Thursday on whether he’ll agree to the fight against Jeff Horn for July. If Pacquiao doesn’t agree to the fight, then his next fight will be in November. Arum doesn’t appear to have another option for Pacquiao to fight in July other than Horn. If Pacquiao agrees to fight the unbeaten 2012 Olympian Horn (16-0, 11 KOs), he would be facing him in his home country of Australia in front of what would likely be a monstrous crowd at Suncorps Stadium in Brisbane. Arum has been trying to make a fight between Pacquiao and Horn for many months now. Arum also promotes Horn.
Pacquiao vs. Horn is a fight that will do good PPV numbers in Australia, and sell a lot of tickets. It’s understandable for Arum to want to make the fight. For Pacquiao to make similar money, he would likely need to fight someone well known from the U.S like Adrien Broner or Keith Thurman. Pacquiao vs. Amir Khan might bring in the same kind of money or better if the fight were staged in England. Khan isn’t one of Arum’s fighters in his Top Rank stable though and neither are Broner and Thurman.
The payday that Pacquiao receives for the Horn fight is rumored to be not close to the money he used to get for his fights in the past. Fighting a younger fighter in Horn in front of his own fans, it would be a risky fight for Pacquiao, given that he doesn’t seem to be motivated for the fight. Horn isn’t a big name in boxing right now, and it would be a fight where Pacquiao wouldn’t receive acclaim in fighting him.
“They have to make a decision by Wednesday [Thursday in Manila],” said Arum to Fight News via the Manila Bulletin. “If we can’ get a fight for him this July, we’ll look at November. Unless it’s a big fight, we are looking at Manny fighting outside the U.S,” said Arum.
Why is Arum so dialed into the Horn fight for Pacquiao? There are other fighters in the sport that Arum should be able to quickly make a deal with for July besides just Horn. Adrien Broner, Amir Khan or Danny Garcia would likely agree to fighting Pacquiao in July if Arum would offer the fight to them. Why is just Horn for Pacquiao to fight in July?
The way I see it, the Pacquiao-Horn fight would be a vehicle to build Horn’s name. If Arum turns around and has Pacquiao fighting one of his other Top Rank stable fighters in Terence Crawford in November, it would give the appearance that Pacquiao would be a stepping stone to increase the popularity of these fighters. Pacquiao’s last two fights were against Arum’s fighters Tim Bradley and Jessie Vargas. The boxing fans didn’t want to see those fights in large numbers. At the time, fans seemed more interested in seeing Pacquiao fight the likes of Amir Khan, Danny Garcia, Adrien Broner or Keith Thurman.