JULIUS INDONGO of Namibia will be confirmed tomorrow as world champion Ricky Burns' next opponent in a unification bout at the SSE Hydro in April.
But promoter Eddie Hearn was quick to dismiss the prospect of the 33-year-old WBA super-lightweight title holder from Coatbridge facing Manny Pacquiao in a million-dollar fight.
Speculation was rife that negotiations were at an advanced stage when the Filipino ring legend's trainer, Freddie Roach, claimed in an interview with a boxing website in America that Burns was on Pacquiao's radar.
But Hearn said: "While I wish it was true, unfortunately that's not the case. As soon as I spotted the story on line I contacted Pacquiao's promoter, Top Rank and asked if there was any truth in the suggestion and they replied: 'Absolutely none.'
"So that's it. Ricky definitely won't be fighting Pacquiao. But we will announce his next opponent this week."
Hearn refused to verify that Indongo is coming to Glasgow, but sources close to Burns insist that a deal has been struck.
Burns became the first-ever Scot to be crowned a three-weight world champion when he claimed the vacant title against Italian Michele Di Rocco nine months ago.
Now he is hoping to create another piece of ring history when he bids to add two more titles to his collection as Indongo holds both the IBF and IBO versions of the world championship at the weight.
Burns had hoped to secure a superfight with former four-weight world champion Adrien Broner in Las Vegas following a successful title defence against Belarusian Kiryl Relikh three months ago.
But Broner has chosen to fight fellow American Adrian Granados in Cincinnati next month instead, while another American, Paulie Malignaggi is believed to be a possible opponent for Burns should he deal successfully with Indongo.
Although Indongo isn't in the same class as Broner or Pacquiao, the undefeated southpaw represents another tough test for Burns in his 48th contest.
Indongo, who represented his country at the 2008 Olympics, has compiled a perfect 21-fight record since turning pro the year after the Beijing Games.
Burns, meanwhile, has lost five and drawn one of his 47 contests across a 15 year career, although Scotland's most successful champion is vastly more experienced, having had 12 world title bouts to Indongo's one.
That was when the African inflicted a first career defeat on Eduard Troyanovsky in Moscow last month, stopping the Russian in the opening round to become a two-belt champion.
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