Pacquiao signs to fight Jeff Horn this summer
By: Matthew N. Becher
It has been a wild couple of months trying to keep up with who and where WBO welterweight champion, Manny Pacquiao would be fighting next, but today he signed on the dotted line, to take on his mandatory challenger, Jeff Horn (16-0-1 11KO).
Bob Arum, announced today to the LA Times, that not all the details were finalized, but that Pacquiao did indeed sign to fight Horn.
“We’re slowly finishing up the deal to fight,” Arum was quoted as saying.
“People have agreed on essential points.”
“We’re dealing with an Australian promoter, the state government,” he said. “Here, in this case, you’ve got to cross the T’s and dot the I’s, and that’s what we’re in the process of doing.”
The fight which is slated to take place at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, is predicted to hold more than 50,000 fans and will become one of the largest sporting events to ever take place in the Country of Australia.
This was confirmed also by Manny’s manager Michael Koncz, as told to the Agence France-Presse,
“We signed the Jeff Horn contract this Morning. Fight is July 2nd in Brisbane, Australia”
This fight comes on the heels of Pacquiao and Koncz trying to make a deal, without Top Ranks Arum, to take on England’s Amir Khan in a $38 million dollar mega fight, which was supposed to take place in the UAE. The deal fell apart when neither party could figure out where the money was actually coming from.
Arum has been trying to tap new markets for his fighters, especially Pacquiao, who he had fight in Macau and now in Australia, which sports a very large Asian and Philippine population.