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Brisbane could miss Jeff Horn-Manny Pacquiao fight as adviser claims bout will be held in UAE

Phil Lutton

The proposed fight between Jeff Horn and Manny Pacquiao has been thrown into confusion with an adviser to the Filipino great saying the bout would now be held in the UAE and not in Horn's hometown of Brisbane.

Duco Events, which promotes Horn in partnership with Bob Arum's Top Rank, was confident the fight would be held at Suncorp Stadium on April 23 in what would be one of the biggest bouts ever staged on Australian soil.

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The venue had already been booked while the Queensland Government had confirmed it would reach into its pockets to host an event predicted to be seen by close to one billion boxing fans around the world.

But Pacquiao's adviser, Michael Koncz, now says the fight is confirmed for the cashed-up UAE and would take place in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, with an official announcement due in coming weeks.

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Duco's Dean Lonergan said he had been blindsided by the news and as far as Duco was concerned, negotiations were continuing to try and bring the event to Australian shores. Arum also promotes Pacquiao and is seemingly at odds with Koncz.

"For the last six weeks I've been dealing with Bob Arum and Top Rank, since he's the promoter of Manny Pacquiao, to put this together. We now get to the point where we think we can get close to closing it so it's going to be in Australia," Lonergan said.

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"As far as I'm concerned this has totally come out of the blue. We're just going to have to wait and see if there's any substance to the story. I'm talking today to Brad Jacobs, the COO of Top Rank, and the other people from the Top Rank team and we continue to organise the fight and until I'm told otherwise by Bob Arum, as far as I'm concerned, we'll just keep moving forward with Brisbane and trying to get the deal done here."

Koncz was on a different wavelength, telling fightnewsasia.com it was a done deal for the UAE and Brisbane had always been a back-up plan.

"It took us a while to get this deal together," Koncz told the website. "There was a lot of confusion whether this is going to happen here in the UAE. [But] I'm here with full authority and power. I have been the marriage counsellor for Manny and we have developed a relationship. I'm involved in all aspects of what he does.

"We have executed the agreement in the morning and 100 percent the fight will he here in the UAE." 

He said Arum had been instructed to talk up the fight in Australia but not finalise the deal, although Arum had publicly been an enthusiastic party in an Australian fight after watching Horn win in Auckland in his most recent bout.

"I told Bob to go ahead but don't close it. When Bob said it will happen there, I asked him what you are talking about? A promoter works for the boxer but the boxer doesn't work for the promoter.

"We have had a successful bond with him but Manny is the boss. I told him why are you speaking to the media when it is just a back-up plan?

"I don't have control over what Bob says, he talks a lot of stuff and I apologise to the people of Australia, their government there for all the confusion and also the fans here in the UAE."

Lonergan said he had needed to speak to Koncz immediately and was seeking urgent clarification as the venue of the fight was plunged into uncertainty.

"All I can tell you is this: Top Rank is the exclusive promoter of Manny Pacquiao. No one else is authorised to do this on behalf of Top Rank. I've been working very closely on this with Bob Arum and I'm just waiting to hear back from Bob exactly what's going on.

"I can't get a hold of Mike Koncz. I'm not 100 per cent sure but I've been told by people there just to keep going and get it done in Brisbane.

"Yes, as far as I'm concerned the alliance of TEQ, Brisbane Marketing and Suncorp Stadium have put forward what I think's a very good offer, one that's definitely workable. Like I said, this is out of the blue.

"I just want to really emphasise that Top Rank is the only company that's authorised to make deals for the promotional rights to Manny Pacquiao and as far as I'm concerned, we're still moving forward and trying to get this deal done."

Lonergan said fights have long been talked up to take place in the oil-rich Arab state but it was yet to unfold.

"Over many years, there have been people and promoters and managers trying to do deals with the UAE. Everyone talks about tens of millions of dollars being available but no one's managed to pull it off yet.

"We'll just have to wait and see what's happening here but until I'm told by Top Rank that we're going to the UAE, as far as I'm concerned, we're still coming to Brisbane - assuming we get the deal done."

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