KEY POINTS

  • Audie Attar confirms Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor want to fight each other
  • The Paradigm Sports boss assures negotiations will continue after McGregor is done with UFC 257
  • Pacquiao has also agreed to fight Terence Crawford

Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor’s shared manager, Audie Attar, confirms that a fight between the two mega-stars will happen sometime next year.

Prior to McGregor agreeing to a rematch against Dustin Poirier at UFC 257, “The Notorious” has got his eyes locked on a boxing match with Pacquiao.

Initially, Pacquiao vs. McGregor was thought of as a fantasy match-up until both men expressed their mutual desire to face each other inside the ring.

Attar, who is now managing both Pacquiao and McGregor through Paradigm Sports Management, recently assured fight fans that the showdown will surely materialize after the Irishman is done with handling his “business.”

“Conor [McGregor] has a fight (on) January 23rd against Dustin Poirier,” Attar recently told Bloomberg TV. “He’s gonna be handling business against Dustin first, but Conor’s come out and said he wants to fight Manny [Pacquiao]. Manny’s come out and said he wants to fight Conor. As I’ve stated publicly before, we’ve had conversations.”

“That is a fight that we’re definitely going to make because both fighters want it, and there seems to be interest from the fans all around the world,” he added.

Manny Pacquiao
Boxer Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao, pictured on Nov. 12, 2011, is one of the few left-handed boxers. Getty Images

The Pacquiao-McGregor fight saga hit a fever pitch when the Filipino boxer's side sent a confirmation to CNN Philippines this past September.

“Our lawyers are finalizing all the confidential details, but both fighters are getting ready for this one epic last boxing fight," the statement read.

Pacquiao has not stepped inside the ring since dismantling Keith Thurman in July 2019. However, the world’s only eight-division titlist has verbally agreed to fight Terence Crawford after being called out by the WBO welterweight champion.

“I already said who I want [next],” Crawford said after stopping Kell Brook on Nov. 15. “I want [Manny] Pacquiao. I want to revisit that fight.”

“That was a fight that should’ve happened right now,” the American hard-hitter insisted. “But being that the pandemic happened, and they weren’t going to allow fans in the Middle East, they had to put a hold to that.”

McGregor, on the other hand, has a 0-1 pro boxing record. He laced up a pair of eight-ounce gloves in an August 2017 losing effort against Floyd Mayweather Jr.

As expected, Pacquiao is heavily favored over McGregor ahead of the highly-anticipated boxing encounter.

However, some in the MMA world believe that it is still too early to predict as McGregor has already proven that he can trade leather with a world-class boxer.

mcgregor
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor poses on the scale during his weigh-in for UFC 202 at MGM Grand Conference Center on August 19, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images