Manny Pacquiao’s MP Promotions announced in the Philippines late this week that the ring legend would return to fight secondary welterweight world titlist Lucas Matthysse on June 24 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, but Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN not so fast.
“It ’s already final. I’m going to fight in Malaysia on June 24,” Pacquiao told the Manila Times. “It is against Matthysse. I’ll be ready for the preparation and it’s going to be 11 weeks.”
But Arum told ESPN there was no deal yet and that he didn’t believe it would happen. “For years we’ve had these proposals from people in the Mideast, whether it’s Abu Dhabi, or the Emirates, or Saudi Arabia, and we’re still waiting for the first deposit for the fight to happen. It didn’t, so now we’ve shifted our attention from the Mideast to the Far East and we’re looking for Malaysian money,” Arum said, laughing, because he has been down this road many times.
Eric Gomez, president of Golden Boy Promotions, which represents Matthysse, said Pacquiao adviser Michael Koncz had contacted him about a possible Pacquiao-Matthysse fight, but that they had not made a deal yet. “Michael Koncz reached out to me and all we did was talk and that’s all I can say,” Gomez said.
“We ’re interested in the fight. It’s very preliminary.” Arum said the group interested in bringing a Pacquiao fight to Malaysia supposedly would put up $15-million with $5-million up front.
“If the money comes up then I’ve agreed to sign on, ” Arum said. “We would handle the logistics, we would handle the undercard and we would handle the television. All they have to do is say they got the $5-million of the $15-million. That makes it legit. [But] I’m not booking my flight [to Malaysia] yet.”
Pacquiao, however, told the Manila Times that his company would handle the promotion, fuelling speculation that there has been a break between Pacquiao and Arum, his longtime promoter...