A potentially money-spinning bout between Philippine boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and Britain's Amir Khan has collapsed, The Los Angeles Times reported on Tuesday. Pacquiao's long-time promoter Bob Arum told the newspaper that the proposed $38 million fight staged by the United Arab Emirates in April had proven to be "pie in the sky."
"When they contacted me, I told them it was pie in the sky, that this is crazy, it's not going to happen," Arum said. "Manny wanted to roll the dice. He rolled the dice and it came up snake eyes. If something is too good to be true, it's too good to be true." Arum still held out the possibility of a fight between Pacquiao and Khan later this year, for "realistic numbers", stating that the suggested purse for the UAE fight had never been likely. In the meantime, welterweight champion Pacquiao was likely to revert to an original plan to fight Australia's Jeff Horn at a venue to be determined, the Times reported. Both Pacquiao and Khan had announced their fight within minutes of each other on Twitter last month.