SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA—The two top patrons of the plausible do not believe that negotiations are underway for a crossover bout between Conan McGregor and Manny Pacquiao.
At least not yet.
Bob Arum, Pacquiao’s cunning promoter, says talk that the ring’s idle but again raring for prime time eight-division titlist will face the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s reigning superstar in a boxing match, is not only false.
It is also “old news, consisting only of an overture to McGregor two months ago by a Pacquiao manager that never received a response,” Arum told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times.
And Dana White, the UFC president, says he couldn’t agree more with Arum’s shtick. Why? Because nothing can get past him since he controls both the horizontal and the vertical in the mixed martial arts business.
White is threatening a lawsuit if negotiations between the McGregor and Pacquiao camps are indeed in the works while bypassing him.
The UFC honcho realizes that Pacquiao has been itching to tangle with the “The Notorious” in the ring not in the octagon for the longest time.
Satisfied with both men’s spiels? Not if you think that Arum and White are not exactly the crown princes of credibility.
Arum is the same ring impresario who said his cash cow Pacquiao will not tangle with Floyd Mayweather Jr. ever.
White is the monopolistic mixed martial arts (MMA) mogul who insisted that he won’t let Mayweather rearrange McGregor’s face in a historic fusion fight.
Well, what do you know? In the end, the dynamic duo allowed plausibility to creep into their thinking anyway.
Mayweather-Pacquiao and Mayweather-McGregor did not seem realistic, until suddenly there they were with record pay-per-view revenues and untold millions of dollars in purses for the protagonists and their promoters alike.
And the rest as they say was a bonanza for both cards that are now considered the most lucrative in combat sports history.
One thing is for certain if Pacquiao faces McGregor: The Filipino ring icon turned senator wouldn’t carry McGregor, the way Mayweather did as he has admitted.
While Pacquiao’s celebrity does not shine as brightly as it used to, the fighter who wrested the WBO welterweight crown from him in July appears headed for the stars.
After retaining that title with an 11th round technical knockout of England’s Gary Corcoran in Brisbane Wednesday morning, ex-school teacher Jeff Horn is now on track to face unbeaten former junior welterweight champion Terence Crawford.
Horn (18-0-1, 12 knockouts) is expected to fight Crawford (32-0, 23 KOs) in Las Vegas in April.
Ironically that’s about the same time frame that Pacquiao was interested in returning to the ring.