Conor McGregor has this past week teased that a fight against the eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao is still very much a possibility.

The former two-weight UFC world champion revealed that a fight is still up for negotiation and recently expressed an interest in stepping inside the boxing ring once again.

Speaking on the BoxingFightWeeekend.com podcast, ESPN’s boxing insider Steve Kerr said: “You know I’m going to be bold and say that it happens next year in 2021.

"Pacquiao is probably searching for events that can bring him nine-figure paydays. From a theoretical standpoint, it could be, Conor McGregor.”

Further raising the prospects of this fight taking place was ‘The Pacman’ signing a promotional contract with the same management company as McGregor earlier this year, however, nothing as of yet has been made official.

McGregor has widely been tipped for a return to the boxing arena ever since the Irishman made his debut in August 2017 against Floyd ‘The Money’ Mayweather, which went down as one of the most lucrative fights in boxing history.

The 41-year-old Philippine boxer has not set foot in the ring since he defeated American Keith Thurman last July for the WBA super welterweight championship in Las Vegas.

McGregor, meanwhile, recently made an impressive return to the Octagon by beating Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone by first round TKO back in January.

There is, however, a potential stumbling block about whether Pacquiao is still contractually tied to Premier Boxing Champions for at least his next fight that could be against Mickey Garcia later this year in Saudi Arabia.

One thing is clear, as suggested by veteran boxing trainer Joel Diaz, the prospect of the McGregor–Pacquiao fight certainly makes business sense for both fighters, and with so much uncertainty and postponements in the world of sport at the moment due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, this mega-fight has the potential to be made sooner rather than later.