MANILA – Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao is planning to slug it out with Irish mixed martial arts star Conor McGregor next year for the sake of Pinoys hit by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Pacquiao’s special assistant Jayke Joson said the boxing match remains a long shot, but the Filipino boxer plans to allot a portion of his fight purse to COVID-19 patients.
“For the sake of all the Filipino COVID-19 victims, Senator Manny Pacquiao will be fighting UFC superstar Conor McGregor next year,” Joson said. “The negotiations for the fight are still ongoing.”
“Our lawyers are finalizing all the confidential details, but both fighters are getting ready for this one epic last boxing fight,” added Joson.
The 32-year-old McGregor posted on his Twitter account Saturday morning that he is “boxing Manny Pacquiao next in the Middle East.”
“It will be a true honour to have faced two of the greatest boxers of the modern era,” added McGregor, who made his boxing debut with a technical knockout loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2017.
The 41-year-old Pacquiao, who holds a 62-7-2 win-loss-draw record with 39 knockouts, has not fought since claiming the World Boxing Association welterweight crown with a stunning victory over Keith Thurman in Las Vegas in July last year./PN
