Pacquiao adviser says fight will go ahead in UAE if date changed

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  • Pacquiao and Khan could meet in the UAE.

    Amir Khan has agreed to fight Manny Pacquiao on May 20 in the UAE after the Filipino icon’s team swapped their initial bout date from April 23.

    Michael Koncz, the long-time adviser to Pacquiao, confirmed to Yahoo Sports the clash will go ahead, should the two fighters agree to the altered date, following a two-hour meeting with his charge’s promoter Bob Arum.

    And sources within Khan’s camp told Sport360 the 30-year-old is happy to fight on May 20. No venue has been announced with momentum gathering for either Dubai or Abu Dhabi to stage the fight.

    And both camps expect the bout agreements to be signed and sealed within the next week or two.

    Explaining the reasoning for the May 20 date, Koncz told Yahoo Sports: “We decided to move it to May 19 here and May 20 in the United [Arab] Emirates so we’d have time to promote it properly and make it a huge success.”

    He added: “We just want to do the best and the biggest fight we can, and this makes a lot of sense for so many reasons. We’ll be able to properly promote it and while it will be a Friday in the U.S., it will be a Saturday there. We were going to do it originally on a Sunday there, but that’s the start of their work week and we didn’t feel at the end of the day that would make as much sense.

    “Their weekends are Friday-Saturday and putting the fight on Sunday when everyone was going back to work seemed like it might be a problem.

    “Friday is a different night [than most Pay-Per-View cards are held in the U.S.], but remember how big the Friday Night Fights used to be. We have the time now to promote it properly and I think we have the right fight, so I think it will do well.”

    One issue with the May 20 date is that Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s hotly-anticipated clash with Mexican rival Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. opens up the month on May 6. It means Pacquiao and Khan will have to follow a fight which is expected to sell well on PPV in the US.

    Grouping PPVs together so closely is considered a risk and with the traditional Saturday night outing also off the cards, sales could be hampered.

    But, with talk of $38 million being offered to Pacquiao from the UAE, the PPV sales may only be seen as a top up to the Filpino’s purse.

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