Book Conor – Manny Now
There comes a time in every athletes career where they say goodbye, and Manny Pacquiao is at that crossroad. Although he wasn’t horrible against Yordenis Ugas, the tools are starting to slide. For his part, the issues facing Conor McGregor are more heart and mind related. That’s why it makes sense to book Conor – Manny now.
The second Pacquiao signed with Paradigm Management, that’s what the talk was. And coming off the money making Floyd Mayweather fight, you couldn’t argue against it. In theory. However “Pac-Man’s” hand speed, and foot speed would have pieced McGregor up. And the more strikes in his loss column, the more it takes away from his aura, and value to the UFC, whether it be in boxing, MMA, or tic-tac-toe.
However with their present trajectories, setting it up has lots of advantages.
McGregor made a Rocky Mountain pile of money for the Mayweather fight. He’s the only one truly making what he’s worth in the UFC, and he cashed out in selling Proper-12. So he’s not hurting financially. But he is inside the octagon. Since his 13-second dance with Jose Aldo he’s 4-4, but besides the “Cowboy” Cerrone win, hasn’t won a fight since UFC 205.
Why It Should Happen
With the leg break, and the rest he’s getting, he can and should look elsewhere than the octagon for an opponent. One more “L”, and a bad one, his financial value will slide. Not that he’s anywhere near being cut, if at all. And Pacquiao is the best dance partner.
If the Filipino legend tried to dance with any decent welterweight, it might not end well. And although the only 8-division champion has fought anyone, anywhere, anytime; it wouldn’t be beneficial to him to do it. Now; he didn’t officially hang up the gloves, but it seems like he’s set on taping up his hands for a fight in politics, to become the President of the Philippines.
Both have one common opponent obviously, and it’s Mayweather. Although there was two very different game plans.
Should Pacquiao run and win the top position in his country, while many people worldwide would love to see their officials actually hit and get hit, this would be something doubtful to be done again. That alone would get McGregor and the UFC interested. There was whispers he’d maybe take a fight with Amir Khan, or Keith Thurman, then go into the sunset, but a crossover with McGregor makes the most money.
And for someone as charitable as Pacquiao, that matters. Plus he wouldn’t deal with an actual boxers skill set. Despite the recent record, McGregor has absolutely nothing to lose. He wouldn’t be expected to win, even though his left is still dangerous, and Pacquaio is slower.
The only thing to truly have to figure out, is weight class. McGregor is never going to see the 140’s again. Pacquaio has gone as high as 154. So it fits with McGregor then going back to the UFC’s lightweight division. And then he can continue doing the “fun fights” path for the rest of his career in the UFC. It seems that maybe these two ships will actually wind up crossing in the night after all. Especially since the bubble hasn’t burst yet on the crossover fight thing.
