Michael Koncz, advisor to eight-division world boxing
champ, Manny Pacquiao, said the boxer could have knocked UFC
lightweight champion Conor McGregor out in two rounds had the
match, to which he had put out a $25-million offer for, pushed
through.
“I put a fight out for $25 million a month ago,” Koncz said in a recent
media briefing. “He (McGregor) can be knocked out in two rounds,”
he added.
The fight did not pan out because “I have been told there were issues
between McGregor and UFC, that the fight could diminish his
(McGregor’s) marketability,” Koncz said.
This could not immediately be independently confirmed though
reports have it that UFC President Dana White was not interested
because he “doesn’t love (Bob) Arum,” Pacquiao’s promoter.
“I love Manny Pacquiao,” White told Yahoo! Sports. “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.”
Pacquiao has said he’ll take McGregor on if the fight is in boxing.
Koncz was in Abu Dhabi in mid-February to announce that 38-year- old
Pacquiao will be spending the rest of his boxing career in the UAE where he’ll
be having at least three more fights in the next two years before he retires.