Manny Pacquiao Says He’ll Fight Conor McGregor if Floyd Mayweather Backs Out
Everyone wants in on the fun.
Manny Pacquiao has kindly thrown a little more fuel on the fire where a fight between Conor McGregor and Floyd Mayweather is concerned. According to an exclusive Fox Sports report, the Filipino boxing star (and senator in his home country) has indicated that if Mayweather—his longtime nemesis—isn’t willing to come out of retirement and throw down with the MMA megastar, he’ll gladly give it a shot.
Pacquiao reportedly told Fox Sports News 500 that he doesn’t know if Mayweather and McGregor are taking the prospect of a fight “seriously,” or “if it will happen.” But should Money Mayweather decide it’s not worth the bother, he will gladly go toe-to-toe with the Irishman.
However, Pacquiao made it clear he didn’t mean he’d meet McGregor in the Octagon: “In boxing? In boxing (I would) but not in (UFC), just boxing.”
In the same interview Pacquiao admitted he hadn’t seen any footage of McGregor sparring, but “if we are talking about Conor McGregor and boxing, it’s different. Boxing is different than MMA.”
Pacquiao threw a subtle compliment at Mayweather, who beat him in the May, 2015 “Fight of the Century,” indicating to Fox Sports that he thought McGregor would lose a boxing match against Mayweather.
That’s your latest chapter in this informal soap opera among famous fighting men. We don’t expect to see Manny climb in the ring with Conor any time soon, if at all, but it seems clear that he and Mayweather agree the UFC champ would not do well against either one of them in a straight-up boxing match.
We’ll be surprised if Conor McGregor doesn’t have something to say about that.
h/t Fox Sports
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