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Although Jake Paul has offered Conor McGregor $50 million so that they could meet for a boxing match, the Irishman has openly entertained and preferred to fight Manny Pacquiao instead if he were ever to return to the sweet science.
Paul has been on a promotional blitz of late trying to land a bout against the UFC star, even flying a banner stating “Conor McGregor is scared of Jake Paul” on the shores of South Beach.
When the 32-year-old McGregor (22-4 MMA; 20 stoppages; 0-1 boxing) was asked for his thoughts on Paul, he didn’t entirely shut down the idea of fighting the 24-year-old content creator.
“That is what it is,” McGregor told BT Sport. “We’ll see what happens. That’s it. He seems like a confused little kid to me, to be honest. Now, he’s willing to get in, so we don’t know what’ll happen. It’s not on the radar at the minute with the young lad. I know him and Dillon [Danis] have been back and forth, so you never know. But I’m excited to see. Fair play to them. Fair play to the Logan guy getting in there with Floyd [Mayweather for the Feb. 20 exhibition]. I’m excited to see how that goes. Floyd looks fat to me. It’s a mad little scene at the minute, isn’t it? I’m not against it. Any man that is willing to make that walk, you know, all the best.”
UFC president Dana White prefers for McGregor to stick to mixed martial arts. White is against a Pacquiao fight and has proclaimed there is a “zero percent” chance that a fight between Paul and McGregor would take place.
“There’s a market for these kinds of fights. It’s just not what I do,” White told TMZ in December. “There will be a day when Conor McGregor could do these types of fights and make a bunch of money. [McGregor] is one of the greatest fighters on Earth right now. He shouldn’t be fighting kids that have f–king YouTube videos.”
Paul (2-0, 2 KOs) has insisted that he’s a full-time boxer now. He fights as a cruiserweight and last tipped the scales at 189 pounds for his bout against NBA star Nate Robinson, scoring a second-round knockout. McGregor competes as a 155-pounder in the UFC’s lightweight division.
Paul kicked off his career in 2020 with a first-round KO over YouTuber AnEsonGib. He will face a professional fighter on April 17 on Triller PPV.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com or on www.ManoukAkopyan.com