WBA welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao is already an all-time legend in boxing and in the general sports world, and as he’s set to turn 42 in December and has increasing duties as a Filipino Senator, there really isn’t much time left for him in the ring, it would seem.
That also means that whatever Pacquiao does from here is probably going to have to be big enough to actually get him into another training camp. A fight with WBO titleholder Terence Crawford was talked about this year, but Crawford promoter (and ex-Pacquiao promoter) Bob Arum has recently said it won’t happen in 2020, with Crawford’s focus now apparently on a clash with Kell Brook, and Manny simply sitting on the sidelines for the time being.
And as much as very serious boxing aficionados sometimes hate to see it come up again, yes, there is still talk of Pacquiao fighting Conor McGregor, the currently officially retired UFC superstar. McGregor, of course, dabbled in boxing in 2017 for a huge money fight with Floyd Mayweather, who stopped the MMA fighter in the 10th round. It was the second-biggest money fight in history, behind only Mayweather-Pacquiao in 2015.
Boxing’s hardcore audience — which in the U.S. isn’t very big and certainly not responsible for the bulk of the money made on big fights, which carry the sport’s relevance overall — don’t seem interested in Pacquiao-McGregor, and it’s understandable from their perspective. McGregor’s not a boxer. If we’re going to see Manny fight again, let’s see him against one of the other current top welterweights, as we did in 2019 when he beat Keith Thurman.
Pacquiao’s team have been reported and rumored to be highly interested, but even that’s not a uniform thing.
