By Edward Chaykovsky
Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum is still very interested in matching up eight division world champion Manny Pacquiao in a showdown with UFC superstar Conor McGregor.
In a recent interview, Pacquiao recently expressed his willingness to fight McGregor - if he was unable to finalize a sought after fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. Although Pacquiao made it very clear that he was only interested in a boxing match - and had zero desire to fight under MMA rules.
"In boxing, but not in MMA. Just boxing," Pacquiao recently stated when asked about McGregor.
Arum said he has no issues with this bout, because he expects Pacquiao to win very easily.
"That's an easy fight for Manny, and I would love for that fight to happen, absolutely," Arum said in an interview with TMZ. "For sure, Manny Pacquiao would love to fight Conor McGregor in boxing. Any boxer would like to fight Conor McGregor, because they'd knock him out," he added.
But White recently told Yahoo Sports that he doesn't have any interest in doing business with Arum.
“Listen, I love Manny Pacquiao,” White told Yahoo Sport's Kevin Iole. “But I don’t love Bob Arum. You can tell Arum to save his money and not make any calls over here because we aren’t doing business with him.”
When Arum heard the news of White's comments, he wasn't surprised - and he offered to step back if that would allow Pacquiao-McGregor to take place.
"I tell you, if the only impediment to Manny Pacquiao fighting Conor McGregor is because Dana doesn't like me, then I won't be around," said Arum. "I would give Manny the right, the permission to fight Conor McGregor anytime that the money was right for Manny."
Even McGregor himself welcomed a bout with Pacquiao, if he's not able to get Mayweather.
"Maybe I'll just fight Pacquiao instead," he said in a recent interview. "Why not do that?"
