Promoter Dean Lonergan of Duco Events, who handle Australian Olympian Jeff Horn (16-0-1, 11 KOs), does not believe Saturday night's announcement of a finalized deal between Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan.
Lonergan, after weeks of negotiating with Pacquiao's promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, had reached a deal for their boxers to face each other on April 23rd in Brisbane.
The Horn-Pacquiao fight would have been one of the biggest in Australian boxing history, with the Queensland government backing the push for Suncorp Stadium to host.
But a week after Arum announced the Pacquiao-Horn deal, the Filipino superstar revealed that he was fighting in the Middle East with Khan as the likely opponent.
On Saturday night, both Pacquiao and Khan took to their personal Twitter accounts to announce that a deal had been reached for a fight on April 23 - although the location has not been revealed.
"Negotiations between team Pacquiao and team Khan have come to terms for the April 23 bout as this is what the fans wanted," 38-year-old Pacquiao tweeted.
Khan, 30, was quick to follow on social media with his own announcement.
"My team an I have agreed terms with Manny Pacquiao and his team for a super fight #pacquiaokhan #April23rd," he tweeted.
Despite the announcement, Lonergan is not walking away - because Arum never advised him of any deal being reached with Khan.
Lonergan is still hopeful of staging Pacquiao-Horn at Suncorp in June or July.
“I won’t believe that Jeff is not Pacquiao’s next fight until Bob Arum tells me the deal if officially off,’’ Lonergan said to Fox Sports. “We had already moved on from April 23 in Brisbane because with Manny talking to Amir Khan there was not enough time to get a promotion done in Brisbane.
“We’re now hopeful we can put the fight together in June or July. The whole situation is incredibly bizarre. It’s one thing for two fighters to announce that they have reached an agreement but another thing for the promotion to take place.
“We still don’t know the venue for the Amir Khan fight, who is paying the money and who is promoting it. Bob Arum is Manny Pacquiao’s promoter and I speak with Bob daily. He has zero reason to tell me anything other than what’s happening.
“If Pacquiao and Khan can make the deal and they make tens of millions each, then good luck to them but at the moment the fighters are doing all the talking and not the promoters. Fighters don’t book stadiums, they don’t make the global television deals.’’
