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Manny Pacquiao planning to fight TWICE in 2021 aged 42 as talks over showdown with UFC legend Connor McGregor cool

MANNY PACQUIAO has declared his intention to fight TWICE next year at the age of 42.

The WBA welterweight champion celebrates the milestone birthday on Thursday.

Manny Pacquiao plans on fight twice next year despite turning 42 this week

And he has big plans for 2021 amid talks of potential fights with Conor McGregor and Terrence Crawford.

Pacquiao is yet to fight since beating Keith Thurman in Las Vegas 18 months ago.

The coronavirus pandemic has seen him focus his intentions solely as a Senator in his homeland of the Philippines.

But Pacquiao, who boasts a 62-7 record, is planning to have two fights next year as he eyes a return to training after upcoming political sessions in March.

He told the Daily Tribute: “We still have sessions in March so there’s no way I am going to fight during that time.

“I think I can do two fights next year.”

A clash with UFC star McGregor could be likely once the Irishman completes his octagon comeback against Dustin Poirier next month.

Audi Attar, who represents both McGregor and Pacquiao, told Bloomberg TV: “As it relates to Pacquiao and McGregor, Conor has a fight on January 23 against Poirier.

How McGregor and Pacquiao stack up ahead of their proposed fight

“He will be handling business against Dustin first.

“Conor has come out and said he wants to fight Manny, and Manny has come out and said he wants to fight Conor.

“As I stated publicly before, we have had conversations.

“So, that is a fight we are definitely going to make because both fighters want it and there seems to be an interest from the fans all around the world.”

WBO welterweight champ Crawford is also eager to fight Pacquiao after dispatching Kell Brook last month.

He declared: “I already said who I want. I want Pacquiao, I want to revisit that fight. That was a fight that should’ve happened right now.

“But being that the pandemic happened, and they weren’t going to allow fans in the Middle East, they had to put a halt to that.

“Everything was 95 per cent done, we had the venue, the money was almost there.

“It wasn’t quit there, that was the only thing we were waiting on.”