Eight-division world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao has been adamant about making a fight with Conor McGregor happen. After a subtle callout was made through Instagram on Thanksgiving Day, the Filipino boxing superstar says he took it a little further by directly getting in contact with the UFC lightweight champion.
Upon getting hold of this piece of information on Saturday night during the UFC’s Fight Night event in Fresno, California, UFC president Dana White says there would be legal repercussions on Pacquiao’s end if he did get in touch with McGregor.
“That would be weird, because [Conor’s] under contract with us,” White said (via ESPN.com). “If that’s true, I will be suing Manny Pacquiao and whoever’s representing him. So, I’m assuming that’s not true.”
Top Rank Promotions chief Bob Arum, meanwhile, dismissed Pacquiao’s supposed conversation with McGregor as “old news”, but predicts a different outcome if the two elite fighters do end up meeting each other inside the squared ring.
“Is it true that Pacquiao reached out to McGregor? Yes, but it’s old news,” Arum told reporters on Saturday night after the Vasyl Lomachenko-Guillermo Rigondeaux fight in New York City (via Fight Hype).
“If I promoted that fight, I would tell everybody upfront ‘Guess what, it’s not a f–king fight. It’s a spectacle,’” he added. “If you want a spectacle, you can watch it. But one thing I would be sure of is Manny wouldn’t carry McGregor the way the other guy did.”
Pacquiao last fought in July 2017, where he lost via a controversial unanimous decision verdict against Jeff Horn in Brisbane, Australia. He also dropped the WBO welterweight title in the process.