The 35 year-old, who held the IBF super-featherweight title between 2000 and 2001, was first put forward as the opponent for Paez earlier this week as reports filtered out from Mexico, but the American is at a loss to explain where the confirmation of the fight came from.
“I haven’t talked to any people from Zanfer or my advisor hasn’t, so I have no clue where this information is coming from,” Forbes told World Boxing News.
“It’s making me upset now because it’s simply not true. Who made this up? This is looking like some major fraud. I have had the same number for three years and no one has made a deal with me or my people about a fight.
“And there is no way I would fight a guy with a legendary name in his own country,” he added.
Forbes is instead lining up a fight in his home country between October 27 and mid-November and hopes to drop down below 140lbs after years of being matched at a less comfortable weight against bigger fighters.
