As he prepares to come out of retirement, Manny Pacquiao has already set his sights on three potential opponents who are considered to be among the most prominent in the sport, including Conor McGregor and Gervonta Davis.
PacMan stepped down from the sport in 2021, following a loss to Yordenis Ugas that was decided by a unanimous decision. Nevertheless, it would appear that there is an itch that has not yet been scratched, since Sean Gibbons, the public relations representative for the former world champion, just released a statement regarding his return.
Following his retirement, Pacquiao has only participated in one exhibition fight, which took place on December 11, 2022 in South Korea. He won the battle against DK Yoo by a unanimous decision. In April, ‘PacMan’ is scheduled to compete in an exhibition fight against Buakaw, a legendary figure in the sport of Muay Thai, before he may return to the professional boxing circuit.
Michael Benson, who is the editor of the boxing section for talkSport, recently addressed X in order to discuss the remark that Sean Gibbons had made. From what he wrote:
“Manny Pacquiao can now be considered “out of retirement” at age 45 and wants to fight Gervonta Davis, Ryan Garcia or Conor McGregor, according to Pacquiao’s MP Promotions rep Sean Gibbons.”
What happened between Conor McGregor and Manny Pacquiao?
There have been multiple instances in which Conor McGregor and Manny Pacquiao have engaged in a verbal spat with one another. A contract issue between the Irishman’s management business, Paradigm Sports, and ‘PacMan’ has also been a source of contention between the two parties. However, they have also been challenged in court.
The eight-division world champion went on to negotiate bout deals on his own after signing with the firm in 2020 and taking a quantity of money that was greater than three million dollars.
The Irishman has been invited to compete in a boxing contest by Pacquiao on several times, and it would appear that “The Notorious” is interested in arranging a fight between the two of them inside the squared circle. However, McGregor is of the opinion that it would be only fair if “PacMan” were to compete in the same weight class as the former UFC champion. This is due to the fact that the rules of the fight would benefit the Filipino boxer.
The boxing event that took place in Saudi Arabia in December for Anthony Joshua’s bout with Otto Wallin was attended by “The Notorious,” who was present at the event. McGregor made the following statement:
Do you think it would be possible for me to fight Manny Pacquiao in Saudi Arabia? In your opinion, how does that sound? Taking into consideration that it is Manny’s sport, wouldn’t you suppose that he need to be required to gain weight to match mine? You would imagine that a man would act in such a way, wouldn’t you? the opposite of what a mouse would do. Already, Manny is in debt to me in the amount of eight million dollars.
