Koncz puts the kybosh on Brisbane fight between Pacquiao and Horn

Sub Lead14-Feb-17by John J. Raspanti

By Anhony Cocks

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It looked too good to be true. That was the word on social media from glass-half-full Australian boxing fans who doubted that a global superstar like Manny Pacquiao would ever fight on antipodean shores.

When the Filipino’s adviser Michael Koncz announced from Abu Dhabi on Saturday that the fight against Jeff Horn would take place in the United Arab Emirates it wasn’t just the boxing world that was taken by surprise, but Horn’s promoter Duco Events who thought they had a deal in place for the fight to take place in the Australian’s hometown of Brisbane.

“As far as I’m concerned this has totally come out of the blue,” Dean Lonergan, head of Duco Events, told BoxingScene.com. “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.”

Duco Events thought they had scored a coup when they secured the backing of the Queensland State Government and the Brisbane City Council to bring the bout to Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on April 23rd. The fight was slated to be the biggest boxing bout, if not the most lucrative, ever held on Australian shores.

But if Koncz is to be believed, the fight was always going to happen in the Middle East.

“It took us a while to get this deal together,” Koncz said. “There was a lot of confusion whether this was going to happen here in the UAE. I’m here with full authority and power.”

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How Koncz came to be in possession of “full authority and power” remains to be revealed. But he insisted that Pacquiao is the boss and that "a promoter works for the boxer" and not the other way around.

“We have executed the agreement in the morning, and 100%, the fight will be here in the UAE,” he said.

Top Rank’s Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao and co-promotes Horn in partnership with Duco Events, recently announced that the fight was set to take place in Australia. Koncz denies the fight was ever locked in.

"I was aware that Bob was talking in Australia about hosting the fight there," said Koncz. "I told Bob to go ahead, but don’t close it."

Koncz insists that Australia was only ever a backup plan and that in case the deal with the UAE fell over.

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

Hold on to your hats and watch this space. The battle for hosting rights appears to be a long way from over just yet.

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