UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor holds both his belts during a press conference for UFC 205. (Photo : Getty Images/Brandon Magnus)
Conor McGregor is without a doubt one of the greatest fighters of all time. Last November 2016, he received a boxing license from the state of California and already a lot of big names are being touted as his possible opposition. One such name is five-weight class world champion and current Philippine senator Manny Pacquiao.
"If McGregor will fight me in boxing, why not?" quoted Pacquiao's spokesman, as cited by the Daily Star. While Pacquiao, who is 10 years McGregors elder, will consider a boxing challenge, he clarified that he will not be entertaining the thought of an MMA bout due to the fact that it is a much different sport. Pacquiao stated that the fight could be at 140 pounds, which is close to his natural weight.
A potential contest between these two could potentially coax Floyd Mayweather out of retirement. Despite the fact that Pacquiao and his promoter Bob Arum are expressing great interest in making this contest happen, the same could not be said for UFC president Dana White.
"You can tell Bob Arum to save his money and not make any calls over here because we are not doing business with him," White told Yahoo Sports in an interview. White's statement comes just a couple of days after news broke that he offered McGregor and Mayweather $25 million each to box each other.
Mayweather laughed off White's offer saying that he would not accept less than $100 million to come out of retirement and fight McGregor. He also made a number of controversial comments about the UFC president.
Another roadblock to making the fight between McGregor and Pacquiao a reality is the latter's political career. Pacquiao briefly retired from boxing because of this although he made his return last November and reclaimed the World Boxing Organization welterweight throne with a unanimous decision victory over Jesse Vargas.
Pacquiao is currently in talks to fight Australian Jeff Horn in the latter part of 2017. On the other hand, it is not yet known whether McGregor's next fight will be in a boxing ring or in the Octagon where he made his name.
Watch highlights of Pacquiao's illustrious boxing career in the video below:
