Premature Pac-Speculation
Good afternoon, all...
(more cheesecake at the bottom)
By now, fight fans have heard the sound bites from Conor McGregor saying he would like to get back in the boxing ring and fight for a belt. More specifically, Conor expressed interest in fighting either Floyd Mayweather for a second time or perhaps fighting Manny Pacquiao.
All this talk of boxing seems a little premature to me and normally signals that an athlete like Conor is perhaps looking ahead of his very dangerous underdog opponent tonight- Cowboy Cerrone. But still, with the number of press conferences and mics jammed into McGregor's face every time he fights, it's not surprising Conor would put the cart before tonight's horse in order to drive headlines.
For those who read those headlines, or heard those soundbites, I thought I would take a quick second to explain how I feel about a potential fight between Conor and Pac (since a Mayweather fight is probably less likely) on the eve of UFC 246, which is being expertly covered in Vegas by an astute Robbie Fox and an apparently drunken Dana.
First off, it is no secret that I am a big fan of Manny Pacquiao. I have blown him multiple times inside of a handful of boxing blogs, and have stated my non-hot take that he is one of the top 10 boxers of all time… Not top 10 welterweights… Not top 10 Filipino senators… Manny is on my (and many others) lists as one of the top 10 BOXERS of all time… Again, not a hot-take, but I don't mind writing it in a blog for perhaps some MMA fans who aren't aware of Manny's legacy.
I refer to many of today's stud boxers as "generational talents" (Lomachenko and Crawford, for example), but I reserve the words "legendary talent" only for people of Manny's caliber.
Here's what I know about Pacquiao:
- Only fighter to win 12 major world titles in eight different weight divisions.
- In July 2019, Pacquiao became the oldest welterweight world champion in the history of boxing after defeating Keith Thurman to win the WBA (Super) welterweight title at the age of 40.
- Pacquiao has defeated 22 world champions—Chatchai Sasakul, Lehlohonolo Ledwaba, Jorge Eliécer Julio, Marco Antonio Barrera (twice), Érik Morales (twice), Óscar Larios, Jorge Solís, Juan Manuel Márquez (twice), David Díaz, Oscar De La Hoya, Ricky Hatton, Miguel Cotto, Joshua Clottey, Antonio Margarito, Shane Mosley, Brandon Ríos, Timothy Bradley (twice), Chris Algieri, Jessie Vargas, Lucas Matthysse, Adrien Broner, and the aforementioned Keith Thurman
- He's an excellent boxer, a pretty good senator, but a TERRIBLE actor, basketball player, and singer.
.
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On the other hand, I love every piece of content Robbie Fox makes, BUT I am not a fan of his hero- Conor McGregor.
I respect McGregor as a "generational talent" for self-promotion, and he is certainly fun to watch. But as an old-school boxing fan, I only started paying attention to MMA in 2016 (reluctantly), and Conor's record since then has been anything but extraordinary.
Here's what I have seen since I started paying attention:
- He was choked out by Nate Diaz in early 2016 but successfully avenged that defeat with a UD in August of that year.
- With a quick turnaround by boxing standards, MacGregor then stepped back into the octagon for the third time that year in November of 2016 and won the UFC Lightweight Championship after defeating Eddie Alvarez by 2nd round TKO in what was deemed "Fight of the Night" for UFC 205 and made McGregor the first UFC fighter to hold titles in two different weight classes simultaneously.
- He then went into a hiatus (at least in part, to witness the birth of his first child), and the Champ-Champ was soon stripped of both Belt-Belts due to inactivity.
- Conor popped his head back up on August 26, 2017, when he lost to Floyd by 10th round TKO in a one-sided circus act that paid both Conor and Mayweather A LOT of money.
- On 10 November 2017, McGregor jumped into the cage at Bellator 187 in Dublin (he was not a licensed cornerman) to celebrate his teammate Charlie Ward's win while the fight was not yet officially declared over. A commissioner attempted to stop McGregor's attempt to steal the spotlight and Conor, agitated, slapped the commissioner's face.
- In April of 2018, at UFC 223 Media Day, McGregor threw a metal dolly into the window of a moving bus filled with people he didn't like, including Khabib Nurmagomedov.
- Six months later, McGregor made his triumphant return to the octagon and tapped out in the 4th round of another lopsided (and not in a good way for Conor) bout versus Khabib.
- In March of last year, he smashed a cell phone in Miami.
- In August of last year, he punched an old man in a Dublin bar.
- His whiskey stinks.
Enough with the history lesson. Here's why I wrote this blog.
If Vegas and Robbie are right and Conor beats the balls of Cowboy Cerrone tonight… And then talk of him fighting Pac picks up some legitimate steam, know this- Manny Pacquiao at 41 or 42 years of age (depending on if/when they schedule this fight) will absolutely slap the taste out of Conor McGregor's mouth.
Snatch is a great film.
It would be an absolute money grab for both McGregor and an aging Pacquiao, and I wouldn't blame either for doing it.
But the crafty old Filipino southpaw would run circles around an Irish superhero 10 years younger than him, exposing (once again) Conor's lack of boxing conditioning (which you can't just "pick up" in a couple of months of camp) and negating his admittedly devastating punching power.
I have zero clue how that fight gets made, but I am fairly certain how it would end… And that would be exactly like the time Pac knocked out the hard-punching Puerto Rican superhero (who was actually born in Rhode Island) Miguel Cotto in 2009.
Just something to think about as we head into tonight's action.
Enjoy the fights, everyone… Sober up, Dana.
Take a report.
-Large
I interview Italian superhero Paul LoDuca about his career highlights on this week's ExtraLarge… Catch it on BarstoolGOLD.
Speaking of double teams…
Boom…
Boom…
And boom…
TAR
-L