Manny Pacquiao-Amir Khan is on! Both fighters say “super-fight” will go ahead April 23

By James Slater - 02/26/2017 - Comments

Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan have come to an agreement to fight on April 23rd, both fighters have confirmed via tweet. The venue for the WBO welterweight title fight is still to be confirmed – with the UAE, the US and the UK all possibilities – but Pac-Man says this is the fight “the fans want to see.”

Khan tweeted how terms have been agreed for what he feels is a “super-fight.” Khan recently topped the online poll Pacquiao put up asking fans who he should fight next, and Pac-Man has listened to his fans. A full announcement regarding venue is expected soon. Meanwhile, Khan – last seen being brutally KO’d by the much bigger Canelo Alvarez last May – is telling everyone he is sure he can beat his former spar-mate.

“This fight is going to be for the WBO title and it’s a fight I know I can win,” Khan said on Snapchat. “I know a lot about Manny Pacquiao.”

Khan then ripped into promoter Eddie Hearn, who recently stated how he felt there was no chance a Pacquiao-Khan fight would ever take place.

YouTube video

“I think Mr. Hearn doesn’t know what he’s on about when he said the fight is not going to happen,” Khan added. “I don’t think Eddie even speaks to Bob Arum to quote the fight between me and Manny Pacquiao is impossible. So, Eddie, stop hating, keep your quotes to yourself and the fight between me and Manny Pacquiao is happening.”

As big a deal as a Khan-Kell Brook fight would have been – in the UK especially, and this is of course the fight Hearn wanted to make – Pacquiao-Khan is much bigger. But who wins? Should Khan have opted to box a tune-up after his crushing loss to Canelo? Is Pacquiao perhaps just faded enough for Khan’s blistering speed of hand to give him real problems?

Pacquiao, 59-6-2(38) looked good in his last fight, when he widely outpointed Jessie Vargas in November, and he will no doubt enter the Khan fight as a pretty big favourite to win. Still, to those Khan critics who say Pac-Man will flatten Khan, it’s perhaps worth remembering that Pacquiao has not stopped an opponent in over seven years.

Khan, 31-4(19) is also the considerably younger man at age 30 to Pacquiao’s 38.