Pacquiao next fight could be in Dubai against Khan

In report from Yahoo Maktoob via Associated Press written by Tim Dahlberg Manny Pacquiao next fight could be in Dubai against Khan

"Arum said Tuesday that Juan Manuel Marquez is his first choice for Pacquiao's next fight, but other fighters — including Amir Khan — could be in the mix."

Although, I already heard this statement before from Arum and still didn't happen. But I think staging a fight here in the Middle East could be big success especially if its in Dubai. Filipinos around the Middle East, especially the GCC, area for sure will troop to Dubai who allow visa upon arrival to Filipinos.

Below is a breakdown of OFW (Overseas Filipino Workers) population working or having temporary residency in four leading countries in the Middle East according to Wikipedia.

• Saudi Arabia - 1,267,658


• UAE - 931,562


• Qatar - 200,016


• Kuwait - 213,638

Amir Khan apart from a solid British fan base in UK has also huge following in Dubai from British expatriate. In UAE there are 240,000 Britons. He has also huge following from Pakistan Nationals in the Emirates being of a Pakistani descent. Pakistanis are the second largest ethnic group in the UAE, constituting 21%, which is over 1.2 million, of the country's total population.

[caption id="attachment_2658" align="alignright" width="300"] Jam-packed Quadsia Stadium during the Kuwait vs Philippines Fifa World Cup Qualifiers[/caption]

I remember how the OFW's in Kuwait supported Azkals (Philippine National Soccer Team) during the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in 2011 held  Kuwait The Filipinos outnumbered the locals and jam-packed the 22,000 capacity Quadsia Stadium.

The ticket that I have that time was useless as Kuwaiti Police Officers didn't allow fans to come in because the Stadium is totally full. Honestly, the match already started but I'm still outside the stadium, finding my way in as the gate was already closed. I jumped from the fence just to get in.

I can't imagine how huge the support would be from Filipinos alone, if Pacquaio-Khan will ever happen in Dubai who has more Filipino and Pakistani population.

There is no problem also in distributing PPV as every Filipino in the Middles east is powered by TFC or The Filipino Channel owned by ABS-CBN channel 2 in the Philippines. The biggest TV network in the Philippines.

Bring Pacquiao-Khan in Dubai!