Pacquiao camp wants written proposal of South African fight offer

The camp of Manny Pacquiao on Monday said they haven’t received a formal offer from representatives of South African boxer Chris Van Heerden, who reportedly wants to challenge the Filipino icon.

In a text message to Philstar.com, Pacquiao’s adviser Mike Koncz said a written proposal would be the first thing needed to get negotiations started for any fight involving his client.

“A lot of people will say a lot of things, and we will not believe anything until we actually see a written proposal turned into a draft contract,” Koncz told Philstar.com.

The 29-year-old Van Heerden emerged as a potential Pacquiao foe after a South African newspaper recently ran a front-page story about the Johannesburg-based fighter wanting to face Pacquiao in November.

Citing unnamed sources, The Citizen reported that the fight could be staged if the Sport and Recreation (department) of South Africa can come up with the $25 million purse for Pacquiao.

Koncz earlier said Pacquiao wants a minimum of $20 million for his next fight, which is one of the reasons why talks with the camp of Australian boxer Jeff Horn fell through.

Horn’s representatives had offered Pacquiao $5 million to $6 million to fight somewhere in Australia, likely in Brisbane. But the fighting senator wasn’t interested.

Koncz then headed to the United Arab Emirates to explore an offer by an investment group for Pacquiao to take on Amir Khan. The negotiation was a again a bust, as the reported $38 million purse dangled to Pacquiao did not materialize.

Now, The Citizen claimed that a formal proposal for a Pacquiao-Van Heerden tussle has been sent to Top Rank Inc., Pacquiao’s longtime promoter.

Koncz, for his part, has yet to see such offer. “Manny and I have not seen such thing nor Manny has agreed to anything,” he added.

Like Horn, Van Heerden (25-2, with 12 KOs) is a relatively unknown fighter outside of South Africa. He notably lost to welterweight prospect Errol Spence Jr. via technical knockout in September last year.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, remains without an opponent for his next outing since dominating Jessie Vargas last November to regain the WBO welterweight title.—