Looks like Pacquiao vs Khan has fallen over

[Like a Boss]

The UAE sold Manny a pup according to Bob Arum. Back to the drawing board now.

http://www.BS.com/pacquiao-ret ... ce--114348

[Like a Boss]

The UAE does it again.

Next time they start promising riches, AGAIN, nobody will take them seriously.

[Exoddus]

Saves Khan getting knocked out again.

[jameswilson]

Well blow me down.

[tiny_acres]

I'm glad. I can't stand Khan and honestly gave him a great chance of beating Pac

[davie]

Saves Khan getting knocked out again.

Not sure he'd have worried too much about that, given the pay day it would have given him

[Deserter]

The UAE does it again.

Next time they start promising riches, AGAIN, nobody will take them seriously.

Mate, what do you mean by this? When a fight falls through in the UK, I don't hear people blaming the country for it. What we're talking about here, as I understand it, is a group of Indian investors who were talking about staging the fight here. The UAE govt has never been involved at any stage and carries on successfully staging events like the Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai Desert Classic, Abu Dubai Grand Prix and Dubai World Cup.

Ridiculous to be talking about "they" and "them" in country terms.

[TheGman]

Haha khan would of got splatted anyway

[BigDoofus]

As expected. Stopped people talking about skype for a while.

[davie]

Was it ever actually on?

Let's think about this, has anyone heard or read anything from Khan about this? If this fight was even close to being made he'd have had himself splattered all over the news shouting about it.

I'm deeply suspiscious that I've heard nothing from the Khan camp, was this all a bit of bullshit?

[Stuarty]

Well the little prick is mandatory for Thurmans WBC. Let's see if he fancies that one eh? He was all for taking on Peterson when he picked up the WBA secondary strap. I sincerely doubt Khan will want anything to do with Thurman.

[SAPFO]

Can't have a Muslim getting sparked by a Christian on Muslim land. Manny would have probably had his head sliced off afterwards by the Filipino branch of ISIS.

[Terminator666]

The only other fight for Khan is Brook in a football stadium- casuals will snap up the tickets and ppvs

[Tom Moore]

Well blow me down.

If you were Amir Khan, I probably could.

[Bricks]

The UAE does it again.

Next time they start promising riches, AGAIN, nobody will take them seriously.

No KHAN does it again.

He is all hot air , deluded and all front. for 13 years we have heard he has a fan base in Dubai.....oh yeah? I bet 1000 of them wouldn't pay £20 to see him......fan base my arse.

More pie in the sky from khan the guy who has been knocked out by Prescott, Garcia,Canelo and beaten by Peterson in the vein of "money-amir khan" is the fight the world has been begging for for years"..the third person is deliberate.

Khan is barely a B tier fighter. U could argue in boxings strongest division WW he is clearly a C tier fighter

[BigDoofus]

Was it ever actually on?

Let's think about this, has anyone heard or read anything from Khan about this? If this fight was even close to being made he'd have had himself splattered all over the news shouting about it.

I'm deeply suspiscious that I've heard nothing from the Khan camp, was this all a bit of bullshit?

Amir Khan‏Verified account @amirkingkhan Feb 25

My team an I have agreed terms with Manny Pacquiao and his team for a super fight #pacquiaokhan #April23rd




Amir Khan Retweeted
AKfoundation‏ @AKFoundation Feb 26

It's OFFICIAL our founder @amirkingkhan will fight @mannypacquiao on April 23 we wish Amir the very best #SuperFight

[Like a Boss]

The UAE does it again.

Next time they start promising riches, AGAIN, nobody will take them seriously.

Mate, what do you mean by this? When a fight falls through in the UK, I don't hear people blaming the country for it. What we're talking about here, as I understand it, is a group of Indian investors who were talking about staging the fight here. The UAE govt has never been involved at any stage and carries on successfully staging events like the Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai Desert Classic, Abu Dubai Grand Prix and Dubai World Cup.

Ridiculous to be talking about "they" and "them" in country terms.

Bob Arum confirms our doubts: Why the failed UAE Pacquiao-Khan ‘super fight’ is not surprising


As we hover over the broken remains of another pipe dream, a "super fight" that at the moment looks nothing more than a mirage in the UAE desert, picking through the wreckage for signs of what went wrong is easy. We’ve been here before, after all. Several times, in fact.

Let us retrace our steps to see why the proposed bout between Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan failed to materialise.

When the story first broke on February 12, via the Twitter account of Manny Pacquiao, that the Filipino would stage his next fight in the Emirates, it added much-needed substance to what his adviser Michael Koncz had told reporters in Abu Dhabi a day earlier, that a bout between his client and Jeff Horn would "100 per cent" take place in the UAE.

OK. Interest piqued. Let’s start to make our own enquiries.

Contact with Koncz was established and maintained several times via text message. Each time the question was asked: Will this fight definitely take place in the UAE? Each time the answer was an emphatic "yes."

A prominent member of Khan’s team involved in the negotiations to stage the fight here also confirmed on several occasions to The National that Dubai was the front-runner, with the caveat that the UK and US were still being considered too.

While many news outlets reported The Sevens ground in Dubai as the most likely venue, The National was shown detailed seating plans for another Dubai venue to stage the fight.

Pacquiao’s Twitter account further fanned the flames by asking his followers who his next opponent in the UAE should be. The choice was between Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Terence Crawford and Kell Brook. Khan was the overwhelming winner with 48 per cent of the vote.

On February 26 both Pacquiao and Khan confirmed they had agreed terms to fight on April 23 – later revised to May 20 – with the UAE in the driving seat to stage the bout.

The checklist had plenty of boxes ticked. Prominent Pacquiao adviser confirming fight to be held here: check. Pacquiao twice referring to the UAE as his next destination: check. Fighters agreeing terms: check. Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC) confirming they were aware of talks being held to stage the fight here: check.

There was just one problem. For all the hyperbole about the Emirates finally set to stage a world title fight – Pacquiao’s WBO Welterweight belt being on the line – one prominent voice had remained silent: Bob Arum.

If Pacquiao is boxing royalty, Arum is its deity. Any words spoken by a man who has promoted Muhammad Ali may as well be written down in boxing scripture. While The National has conducted several interviews with Arum in the past, touching base with the Top Rank chief executive proved elusive when it came to getting a response to the question we all needed an answer to: Is this fight going to take place in the UAE?

On February 21 Arum broke his silence, telling Australia’s Courier Mail that Pacquiao was exploring the possibility of fighting in Dubai. Throughout every other subsequent interview, however, Arum voiced scepticism that anyone here would come up with the money.

Having had our fingers burnt before, our reportage was always tempered with doubt. That doubt was well founded with the news the fight is off – for now – as, surprisingly, their is no sign of the proposed US$38 million (Dh140m) that obviously turned Pacquiao’s head.

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing. But foresight is better. There is no suggestion there were not genuine attempts to hold the fight here, and no suggestion that the information given to us by Koncz or any other person was anything other than credible.

Throughout our coverage we expressed how an event of this magnitude would need the involvement of either ADSC or Dubai Sports Council, or both, and confirmation from Arum himself.

Our frustration is borne from years of broken promises, and the nagging sense that promoters and boxers pay lip service or try to use the UAE as a bargaining chip to secure a better deal elsewhere.

And the fact that once again fight fans here will miss out on seeing two world-class pugilists take up the cudgels in the flesh, rather than at 7am on a working Sunday on a paid subscription TV channel.

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/boxing/ ... surprising

[davie]

Was it ever actually on?

Let's think about this, has anyone heard or read anything from Khan about this? If this fight was even close to being made he'd have had himself splattered all over the news shouting about it.

I'm deeply suspiscious that I've heard nothing from the Khan camp, was this all a bit of bullshit?

Amir Khan‏Verified account @amirkingkhan Feb 25

My team an I have agreed terms with Manny Pacquiao and his team for a super fight #pacquiaokhan #April23rd




Amir Khan Retweeted
AKfoundation‏ @AKFoundation Feb 26

It's OFFICIAL our founder @amirkingkhan will fight @mannypacquiao on April 23 we wish Amir the very best #SuperFight

[Deserter]

The UAE does it again.

Next time they start promising riches, AGAIN, nobody will take them seriously.

Mate, what do you mean by this? When a fight falls through in the UK, I don't hear people blaming the country for it. What we're talking about here, as I understand it, is a group of Indian investors who were talking about staging the fight here. The UAE govt has never been involved at any stage and carries on successfully staging events like the Dubai Tennis Championships, Dubai Desert Classic, Abu Dubai Grand Prix and Dubai World Cup.

Ridiculous to be talking about "they" and "them" in country terms.

Bob Arum confirms our doubts: Why the failed UAE Pacquiao-Khan ‘super fight’ is not surprising


As we hover over the broken remains of another pipe dream, a "super fight" that at the moment looks nothing more than a mirage in the UAE desert, picking through the wreckage for signs of what went wrong is easy. We’ve been here before, after all. Several times, in fact.

Let us retrace our steps to see why the proposed bout between Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan failed to materialise.

When the story first broke on February 12, via the Twitter account of Manny Pacquiao, that the Filipino would stage his next fight in the Emirates, it added much-needed substance to what his adviser Michael Koncz had told reporters in Abu Dhabi a day earlier, that a bout between his client and Jeff Horn would "100 per cent" take place in the UAE.

OK. Interest piqued. Let’s start to make our own enquiries.

Contact with Koncz was established and maintained several times via text message. Each time the question was asked: Will this fight definitely take place in the UAE? Each time the answer was an emphatic "yes."

A prominent member of Khan’s team involved in the negotiations to stage the fight here also confirmed on several occasions to The National that Dubai was the front-runner, with the caveat that the UK and US were still being considered too.

While many news outlets reported The Sevens ground in Dubai as the most likely venue, The National was shown detailed seating plans for another Dubai venue to stage the fight.

Pacquiao’s Twitter account further fanned the flames by asking his followers who his next opponent in the UAE should be. The choice was between Amir Khan, Kell Brook, Terence Crawford and Kell Brook. Khan was the overwhelming winner with 48 per cent of the vote.

On February 26 both Pacquiao and Khan confirmed they had agreed terms to fight on April 23 – later revised to May 20 – with the UAE in the driving seat to stage the bout.

The checklist had plenty of boxes ticked. Prominent Pacquiao adviser confirming fight to be held here: check. Pacquiao twice referring to the UAE as his next destination: check. Fighters agreeing terms: check. Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC) confirming they were aware of talks being held to stage the fight here: check.

There was just one problem. For all the hyperbole about the Emirates finally set to stage a world title fight – Pacquiao’s WBO Welterweight belt being on the line – one prominent voice had remained silent: Bob Arum.

If Pacquiao is boxing royalty, Arum is its deity. Any words spoken by a man who has promoted Muhammad Ali may as well be written down in boxing scripture. While The National has conducted several interviews with Arum in the past, touching base with the Top Rank chief executive proved elusive when it came to getting a response to the question we all needed an answer to: Is this fight going to take place in the UAE?

On February 21 Arum broke his silence, telling Australia’s Courier Mail that Pacquiao was exploring the possibility of fighting in Dubai. Throughout every other subsequent interview, however, Arum voiced scepticism that anyone here would come up with the money.

Having had our fingers burnt before, our reportage was always tempered with doubt. That doubt was well founded with the news the fight is off – for now – as, surprisingly, their is no sign of the proposed US$38 million (Dh140m) that obviously turned Pacquiao’s head.

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing. But foresight is better. There is no suggestion there were not genuine attempts to hold the fight here, and no suggestion that the information given to us by Koncz or any other person was anything other than credible.

Throughout our coverage we expressed how an event of this magnitude would need the involvement of either ADSC or Dubai Sports Council, or both, and confirmation from Arum himself.

Our frustration is borne from years of broken promises, and the nagging sense that promoters and boxers pay lip service or try to use the UAE as a bargaining chip to secure a better deal elsewhere.

And the fact that once again fight fans here will miss out on seeing two world-class pugilists take up the cudgels in the flesh, rather than at 7am on a working Sunday on a paid subscription TV channel.

http://www.thenational.ae/sport/boxing/ ... surprising

And quite why you've quoted that article (which I'd already read) I'm not sure, as it only serves to reinforce my point. The only mention of any official UAE body in there is in relation to Abu Dhabi Sports Council saying they were aware of talks - not that they were having the talks themselves. So again, if UK Sport had said they were aware of talks about Khan fighting in Bolton or Manchester, you'd also decide that the UK itself was culpable for those talks breaking down?
I think you need to understand the fundamental difference between third parties looking to this place as a potential venue and the govt itself getting involved. In the case of the former, over my time here I've seen so many would-be promoters claim they were going to do this or that as they think it's easy money here - these guys rarely if ever come through and are just rebuffed by officials who have seen it all before. In the case of the latter, the UAE (both Abu Dhabi and Dubai) have seen sport as an investment vehicle for tourism growth, but have shown little if any interest in boxing - the only govt involvement in combat sports I'm aware of is when the EAA in Abu Dhabi took a 10% stake in Zuffa (the former owner of UFC) back in 2010.

[Like a Boss]

I highlighted the relevant section in the article for you.

[Deserter]

I highlighted the relevant section in the article for you.

Our frustration is borne from years of broken promises, and the nagging sense that promoters and boxers pay lip service or try to use the UAE as a bargaining chip to secure a better deal elsewhere.

Which bit aren't you getting? He's criticizing third parties. Ask Roger Federer's agent; ask Tiger Woods' agent; ask Bernie Ecclestone; I could go on and on. There is a clear track record of major sporting events being staged here successfully year after year when the UAE govt is directly involved.

Please trust me on this one, I was in media here for years and met promoters who flew in here claiming they were going to bring boxer x and boxer y. These guys never got anywhere because they were under the illusion it was just rich Arab guys who were happy to throw money around, whereas the reality is that there is a very structured plan and approach from bodies like Dubai Tourism. Boxing is not part of that plan.

Your original statement was simply wrong.

[Shirow]

Saves Khan getting knocked out again.

Not sure he'd have worried too much about that, given the pay day it would have given him

Exactly. Khan's business model now days is to sell his own KO to the highest bidder. Maybe he'll give Ebay a go...

[Like a Boss]

11 of Pacquiao's past 14 fights have been against fighters from Bob Arum's Top Rank.

Arum conveniently became Jeff Horn's co-promoter late last year.

Join the dots.

[Switch hitter]

He will now start calling Brook's name out again knowing he has a fight lined up.....If Brook gets past Spence, Khan will then shift his mind to calling out Pac man or tempting Mayweather

[Bricks]

Can't have a Muslim getting sparked by a Christian on Muslim land. Manny would have probably had his head sliced off afterwards by the Filipino branch of ISIS.

racist stupid ignorant dog ccrap.