NAGKASUNDO na sina Top Rank big boss Bob Arum at adviser ni WBO welterweight champion Manny Pacquiao na si Michael Koncz sa depensa ng Pinoy boxer laban kay Amir Khan ng United Kingdom sa Mayo 19 sa United Arab Emirates.
Nag-usap sa Las Vegas, Nevada sina Arum at Koncz nitong Miyerkules at napapayag ng Canadian ang Amerikanong promoter na mas bebenta ang laban nina Pacquiao at Khan base sa Twitter survey.
Mismong sina Arum at Koncz ay nagulat nang makumpirma na 86 porsiyento ng bumoto pabor kay Khan sa Twitter survey ay boxing fans mula sa US na pinakamalaking pay-per-view market.
“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,” sabi ni Koncz sa Yahoo Sports. “I have to talk to both fighters [on Wednesday] to get them to approve going in May instead of in April. I don’t think that will be any problem.”
“When I saw Amir ran away with it, I figured most of the votes from from England and a lot of them came from the [UAE], but they told me that 86 percent of them were from the U.S. That meant a lot,” diin ni Koncz. “Obviously, Amir’s a big name in the U.S., too, as well as in England [where he lives] and people saw it for what it is: A toss-up fight against two fast-handed guys.”
Brandon Clarke ng Memphis, pumanaw sa edad na 29!
Dating WBA at IBF light welterweight champion si Khan na naging sparring partner ni Pacquiao noong trainer pa ng Briton ang Amerikanong si Freddie Roach. Ngunit sa kanyang huling laban noong nakaraang Mayo 7 sa Las Vegas, Nevada, tumalon siya ng dalawang dibisyon at tinalo via 6th round knockout ni dating WBC middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez ng Mexico.
“That shouldn’t be held against him. He took a risk and it didn’t pan out, but he was doing great in the early part of the fight. He matches up well with Manny and like I said, it’s a 50-50 fight. I certainly think Manny will win, but he’s not guaranteed to win this by any means,” paliwanag ni Koncz. “I saw some people on the internet criticizing Amir for getting knocked out like that, but I don’t criticize him; I applaud him for stepping up and taking the fight against a good fighter like Canelo. He went up two weight classes to take that fight, which I’ll be honest with you and tell you we wouldn’t do. We learned our lesson fighting those big guys when we fought [Antonio] Margarito [in 2010].”
“We just want to do the best and the biggest fight we can, and this makes a lot of sense for so many reasons,” dagdag ni Koncz. “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.” (Gilbert Espeña)
