Conor McGregor says he is fighting Manny
Pacquiao. PLEASE happen.Opening odds @betonline_ag
:Pac-Man -1200
Conor +700Odds> https://t.co/Brb9nyMjEX
— Dave Mason (@DaveMasonBOL)
September 25, 2020
Sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then stream the UFC live on
your smart TV, computer, phone, tablet or streaming device via the
ESPN app. Manny
Pacquiao has predictably opened as a massive favorite over
Ultimate Fighting Championship star Conor
McGregor.
On Friday, McGregor (22-4 MMA, 0-1 Box)
revealed that he was negotiating with the UFC and Pacquiao
(62-7-2, 39 KOs) to stage a boxing match towards the end of the
year. Even though the matchup is far from official, betting lines
have opened with McGregor as a huge underdog against his potential
Filipino foe.
According to sportsbook betonline.ag,
Pacquiao is a -1200 favorite against McGregor (+700) in their
discussed bout. This same book has boxing lines of potential
Floyd
Mayweather Jr. opponents in the form of Khabib
Nurmagomedov and Jorge
Masvidal. Mayweather is a -1000 favorite against each man on
the BetOnline lines currently. When McGregor faced Mayweather in
2017, the line
fluctuated wildly upon opening before settling on Mayweather as
the -550 favorite against McGregor at +425. Mayweather won by
scoring a knockout in the 10th round.
Other books have “Pac-Man” as a lower but still significant
favorite, with Bovada opening with Pacquiao at -450 and the
comeback on McGregor at +325. William H. also put out a line on the
prospective matchup, setting Pacquiao as the -833 favorite and
McGregor the +450 underdog.
There is not yet an agreement on which weight class they would be
competing at, as Pacquiao fought at 147 pounds last year while
McGregor recently competed in January at the UFC’s 170-pound
division. “Notorious” did box against Mayweather with a 154-pound
limit in 2017.
McGregor last competed in January, knocking out Donald
Cerrone in 40 seconds with a head kick. The bout was his first
since 2018, when he competed for the lightweight strap at UFC 229
and was tapped out with a neck crank from Nurmagomedov. His foray
against Nurmagomedov was his first in MMA since 2016, with the
Irishman switching over to box Mayweather. McGregor won the first
round against Mayweather on all three scorecards, but a majority of
the judges gave the rest of the rounds to “Money” until the
knockout.
The most recent boxing match for Pacquiao came in July 2019, and
“Pac-Man” became the first man to defeat Keith Thurman by capturing
a split decision. Pacquiao dropped Thurman in the first round and
busted him up in the early rounds, before hurting Thurman to the
body in the 10th frame. With his win, the Filipino senator became
the oldest boxer in history to hold a top welterweight title.
McGregor would be least experienced boxer Pacquiao has ever faced
in his legendary career, as McGregor has only taken a single boxing
match.
