UFC star Conor McGregor poked fun at the way Manny Pacquiao announced a planned rematch with Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The 35-year-old Irish recently took to Instagram (@notoriousmma) and posted a video clip of Pacquiao’s announcement held in Saitama, Japan, with the accompanying caption, ‘A lesson in how not to make an announcement.’ McGregor then added a laughing emoji.
Pacquiao, who spent the holiday season with his family in Japan, was a special guest in the Rizin45 event last New Year’s Eve in Saitama, where he teased fight fans about a second fight with Mayweather.
“I will see you here in Japan again, for a big fight against…,” Pacquiao told the huge audience at hand, but without naming his opponent.
Rizin CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara however, spilled the beans and mentioned the name of the 46-year-old Mayweather, who is also retired from boxing just like Pacquiao.
“I thought you wouldn’t want me to say that. I’m excited for that,” the Filipino boxing legend replied to Sakakibara.
The Mayweather camp so far has been quiet about the announcement.
But McGregor doubts about the rematch, aware about the legal complications arising from Pacquiao losing his case with the Paradigm Sports Management (PSM) for breach of contract.
The former UFC two-division champion reiterated once again that Pacquiao owes him $8 million as the two were supposed to fight in a mega-bout shortly after the Filipino signed a contract with Paradigm.
But the match didn’t happen following the pandemic, after which Pacquiao chose to take on Yordenis Ugas for the WBA welterweight championship. The Pacman lost to Ugas by unanimous decision and retired shortly after.
“Manny already owes me $8 million via the court of law. He was signed to my management company and didn’t honor the deal,” said McGregor, who is also under the Paradigm group, in a separate interview with Daily Star.
“So fight my weight and I’ll square that bill away.”
Last May, a California jury decided in favor of Paradigm in its legal dispute against Pacquiao. The court ordered the boxing icon the pay the firm owned by Audie Atar a total of $5.1 million for breach of contract.
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