Conor McGregor says he was ‘close’ to signing Manny Pacquiao bout and wants a boxing world title
- McGregor says there were ongoing negotiations after an offer was made to fight Pacquiao
- The Irishman intends to fight for a boxing world title in the future
Conor McGregor has revealed he and his team were “close” to signing a boxing bout offer with Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao.
The Irish UFC star (professional MMA record 21-4), who will make his mixed martial arts comeback against Donald Cerrone at UFC 246 this weekend, told ESPN’s Ariel Helwani he loves boxing and wants to fight for a world title in future.
“We were actually close to signing Manny. Me and Manny, there’s been talks about the fight. There was an offer made on that … just not yet,” said the 31-year-old McGregor, whose only crossover to boxing was the infamous loss to Floyd Mayweather in 2017.
“It’s very much so [a possibility in future] … there were negotiations going on.”
The 41-year-old Pacquiao (professional boxing record 62-7-2), who has also lost to Mayweather, is on somewhat of a career resurgence having defeated Keith Thurman and Adrien Broner last year.
Pacquiao has held the WBA super welterweight title since the Thurman win. While not explicitly connecting the dots, McGregor said he intends to fight for a boxing belt after his MMA “season”.
“I want to box again. I will get a boxing world title,” McGregor said. “No [I’ll probably not have to box multiple times to get that]. But I would box multiple times.”
McGregor was also open to a fight with retired boxer and former sparring partner, Paulie Malignaggi (36-8), who lost to the Irishman’s teammate Artem Lobov in a bare-knuckle boxing event in June 2019.
“The Paulie fight, I’d like to box Paulie as well. Why not? That’s a bit of buzz as well,” McGregor said.
