Manny Pacquiao and Conor McGregor are cooking up a prize-fight that is tentatively scheduled in December or January 2021 at the latest but the duel could see the Filipino champion losing his belt. It is a choice between defending his WBA title or generating the most cash, and it seemed that Pacquiao favors the latter.
Being the welterweight title-holder, Pacquiao has to defend the crown he won by defeating Keith Thurman in 2019. The title defense is long overdue but the COVID-19 pandemic is giving the Filipino legislator an extension. But he needs to pick a fight soon if he plans to retain the WBA belt.
The Filipino fighter has about six months to arrange his next bout and failure to do so the WBA will have to strip him of the title, Phil Jay of World Boxing News reported. But the good thing for Pacman, his showdown with McGregor appeared to be on the confirm side and most likely it will play out real soon.
However, the WBN report said the planned Pacquiao-McGregor match will not cut it as the WBA will not sanction the fight. As far as the boxing body is concerned, the top candidate as Pacquiao's next foe is Cuban Yordinis Ugas and two will need to slug it out in early 2021.
Minus the mandatory showdown, the WBA will have to act and forced Pacquiao to step down from the welterweight throne. In his stead, Ugas will ascend.
The report from Jay also explained why McGregor is not fit as a WBA contender. Jay wrote: "The UFC star is 0-1 in a boxing ring. He's also unranked."
It's possible though that between now and in the first few months of 2016 McGregor will try to pad up on his boxing records by taking up on light opponents and picking up a win or two. Then Pacquiao can request the WBA formally to recognize his proposed clash with the Irishman.
Yet according to Jay, that happening is quite a remote possibility.
In any case, the fighting senator can just choose the big-money fight over his WBA title. This appears to be the route that the boxing icon is taking, per the report from The Japan Times. The publication said talks are now underway to discuss the details of the Pacquiao-McGregor mega-fight.
The two camps are expecting to realize good profits from the fight but already, Pacquiao has made clear that part of his earnings will be donated to the Philippines' fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
The boxing icon likewise stressed that the Pacquiao-McGregor duel will only be a go if he is co-promoter, which likely is a non-issue for The Notorious.
