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The Takedown | A McGregor-Pacquiao farce would be another swindle, but it might silence ‘Notorious’ once and for all
- McGregor and Mayweather managed to dupe millions into paying to watch their farcical spectacle three years ago
- History has a danger of repeating itself as McGregor talks up a similar crossover exhibition with eight-division world champion Pacquiao
Reading Time:4 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
What would the world gain from getting behind a Conor McGregor-Manny Pacquiao “super fight”? Well, there are certainly enough people in the world who would be happy to see the Irish popinjay take the pasting that would inevitably befall him. His behaviour in recent years has been such that he is now firmly cast as pantomime villain and people have always paid to see a bad guy get his comeuppance.
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The eternally popular Pacquiao would cop a bumper payday that might allow him to bring a tidy end to his illustrious fighting career, thereby avoiding the twilight sullying of his legacy that has tarnished the records of many fine champions before him.
Perhaps the greatest gift this contest would yield is that it may once and for all stop the hubristic McGregor believing he has the necessary skills to challenge professional boxers in any meaningful way.
Few who witnessed the fiasco that was the first box office crossover “super fight” between McGregor and Floyd Mayweather Jnr in August 2017 would have been sated by the fare they were served that night.
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“The Money Fight” was billed as “the biggest fight in combat sports history”. What transpired was a third-rate display of alarmingly unorthodox boxing from a loud-mouthed novice (who had claimed he could win the fight in one round, if he wanted to) who had no business being paired with arguably the greatest fighter of all time.
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