Manny Pacquiao has "no interest" in Conor McGregor fight after Poirier loss

Conor McGregor is set to miss out on ever facing Manny Pacquiao after losing his trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier last month.

The Irishman was set to face Pacquiao in what would have been a gigantic crossover bout, but now the boxing legend's coach Freddie Roach has said that he has "no interest" in pursuing the fight.

Legendary coach Roach has said that the top boxer only wants to continue to fight if he can compete at the highest level in his sport, and dismissed any future crossover bouts.

He also said that Pacquiao will continue his political ambitions, and even run for President in the Philippines if he loses to Errol Spence Jr later this month.

"Manny does not have any interest in fighting an MMA fighter," Roach told The Sun. "He wants to fight the best fighters out there.

"If he can't be at that level at boxing, then he doesn't want to be boxing – he will retire and hopefully become president of his country.

"If there is another fight after this it's not going to be McGregor, it's going to be one of the best guys out there."

McGregor and Pacquiao had all but signed on to fight prior to his rematch with Poirier in January, but after losing that bout by second round TKO, the fight was shelved, and it appears that is now an indefinite plan.

Roach explained how there was also interest in potentially making a match-up with legendary MMA fighter Georges St-Pierre.

But the pair are friendly, and Roach claims that they don't want to fight one another, with the Canadian fully retired from combat sports since 2019.

"It's not going to be a guy from another sport," he added. "Manny and Georges St-Pierre are friends and so forth but the sports just do not match up well together."

Roach, who has worked with MMA fighters in the past, and helped to train Ben Askren for his unsuccessful boxing debut against Jake Paul earlier this year, says he exclusively wants to see high-level competition from his fighters.

Pacquiao will face Spence for the welterweight title in Las Vegas on August 21, and Roach has claimed that there are other fights out there for him, should he continue at age 41.

"I want to see good boxing and that's what you get from Manny Pacquiao," Roach continued. "He's always fought the best out there.

"There's a couple of guys I worry about, because they're younger, they're stronger and have very difficult styles."

However, Roach doesn't see Spence as one of those tough fighters, saying that he thinks it's a great stylistic match-up for his man, who won his last bout in 2019 against Keith Thurman.

"Spence I do like because he's flat-footed," Roach explained. "He's heavy on his feet and he gets tired in the latter rounds.

"I told Manny, 'We have to start quick in this fight. We can't stay in the pocket.

"Get off your combinations and you're going to get right out the way because he's going to hit you back' – he does have good power.

"There is a couple fights out there we could fight, but Manny wants to fight the best guys out there."

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