If Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial artist superstar Conor McGregor would end up in another lucrative showdown with retired Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather Jr., retired ring icon Manny Pacquiao would have to wait if he decides to come out of retirement to face either of the two.
Boxing fans all over the world are hoping to see the dream fight between the former fighting senator and the Irish McGregor turn to reality, but such a fight is a pipe dream for now because of the pending lawsuit of Paradigm Sports Management against Pacquiao.
PSM has a pending legal lawsuit against the former welterweight champion Pacquiao at the Superior Court of California for alleged breach of contract last year as it seeks to recover a $3.3-million advance when the Filipino signed with the agency, owned by CEO Audie Attar.
And now with the reported negotiation between McGregor and Mayweather for a potential rematch gaining ground, the former welterweight world champion may find himself searching for a bigger lucrative fight offer if he decides to return to the ring this year.
Fighthype.com first reported the negotiation between the 33-year-old McGregor and Mayweather Jr. in a rematch that is worth a $1 billion. McGregor, who is managed by Attar, was said to have accepted the deal through his official Instagram post recently, although there is still no formal announcement yet.
McGregor lost to Mayweather in 2017 via 10th-round technical knockout in Nevada. Despite the defeat, McGregor was reportedly guaranteed a $30 million paycheck, while Mayweather took home $100 million guaranteed purse.
Their fight generated $43 million in pay-per- view buys in the United States.
“We’re very sad of what happened to Manny Pacquiao’s last fight. It should be him sitting on the negotiation table right now — and not Mayweather. But he didn’t honor the lucrative contract he signed with Paradigm last year,” Pacquiao’s former confidante Jayke Joson said. “And now, we do not know what the future holds if he decides to fight again one more time.”
After McGregor lost to Dustin Poirier in their trilogy fight at UFC via knockout last January, 2021, PSM offered Pacquiao to fight Mikey Garcia in July instead in Dubai first, while waiting for McGregor’s recovery.
Despite signing an agreement to fight Garcia, Pacquiao surprisingly signed another fighter — unbeaten WBC and IBF welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr. — to fight on August 21, 2021 at the T-Mobile in Las Vegas, Nevada without the consent of PSM.
But Spence was replaced by Yordenis Ugas when the former suffered a left eye injury a week before fight night.
Pacquiao lost to Ugas via unanimous decision.
The Filipino ring icon, however, is still silent about a possible ring comeback for the last time since losing his presidential bid last May.