Philippine boxer Manny Pacquiao will be fighting against Irish mixed martial arts icon Conor McGregor in the ring next year.
His team said the boxer who is also an elected senator will use the fight to raise funds in aid of the victims of Covid-19 in Philippines.
“For the sake of all the Filipino COVID-19 victims, Senator Manny Pacquiao will be fighting UFC superstar Conor McGregor next year,” Pacquiao’s special assistant Jayke Joson said.
He further revealed that the fight might be staged in the Middle East, thats where McGregor wants it.
Pacquiao’s promoter Sean Gibbons told AFP in Los Angeles that the boxer needs a comeback in the ring. A fight with McGregor could be it but their teams have not reached an agreement.
But on Friday, McGregor, through a twitter post said he was boxing Manny Pacquiao next in the Middle East.
Anyway all water under the bridge who gives a fook.
I’m boxing Manny Pacquiao next in the Middle East.— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 25, 2020
“It will be a true honour to have faced two of the greatest boxers of the modern era,” McGregor added.
Pacquiao, 41, has not fought since July last year when he won the WBA welterweight crown after beating Keith Thurman in Las Vegas.
A fight against will have enough buzz needed for a comeback for a boxer who is glimpsing at the end of an illustrious boxing career.
“Our lawyers are finalising all the confidential details, but both fighters are getting ready for this one epic last boxing fight,” Joson added.
Gibson said Pacquiao concluded from McGregor’s match against the welterweight king Floyd Mayweather in 2017 that the Irishman was capable of challenging “the best boxers in the world”.
Los Angeles Times reported that Mayweather used his superior boxing skills and stamina to ‘technically knockout’ McGregor in the tenth round.
Mayweather had also beaten up Pacquiao in a hyped match in 2015.
The virus has infected some 200,000 people in the Philippines and killed more than 5,000. The boxer who has successfully merged his career with politics is till fighting to donate some of his prize winning to help the poor.
