Can Conor McGregor be tempted back into the ring?
If 'The Notorious' does happen to accept a second professional boxing bout, it will almost certainly come against a less accomplished fighter than Floyd Mayweather, the 50-0 legend who schooled McGregor when they met in August.
What McGregor needs is the perfect combination of a fighter who has a relatively big name but not quite the elite-level skill of a Mayweather, a 'Canelo' or a Manny Pacquiao.
What about a boxer who, until recently, was somewhat unheralded but shot into the mainstream with an entirely unexpected victory over the aforementioned Pacquiao earlier this year?
Step forward, former schoolteacher Jeff Horn.
Few non-hardcore boxing fans could, hand on heart, say they'd heard of Horn prior to his clash with 'Pac-man' in July but, in what many deemed a controversial decision, the Aussie claimed victory as well as the WBO welterweight title in shocking style.
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A rematch with Pacquiao fell apart and Horn will now defend his title against Gary Corcoran in December but, after that, he's eyeing the most lucrative fight of his career.
"I'm happy to have my first defence of it [the title] here in Brisbane again," Horn said, via
BoxingScene.com. "It's going to be a very entertaining fight, Gary comes to fight, he's a walk-forward fighter. I think for that reason it's going to be a big clash, an all-action clash that everyone is going to enjoy."
Presuming the Corcoran defence goes to plan, Horn's promoter Dean Lonergan has laid down the challenge to UFC lightweight champion McGregor to prove his boxing chops by returning to the ring for a title shot against Horn, who holds a professional record of 17–0–1.
"We are also working on a second event here at some stage next year before June 30," Lonergan said, via
BoxingScene.com. "We'd love to have Manny Pacquiao down here [again], he's certainly one of the guys on the table.
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"There are a number of other massive fights out there for Jeff. There's been some murmurings and rumblings that perhaps we could get Conor McGregor down here.
"I would put the challenge out to Conor McGregor — tell me how much you want and we'll see if we can make it work."
