Conor Benn rejected the opportunity to face Manny Pacquiao in December but is willing to fight the Filipino legend in the first quarter of 2027.

Pacquiao, who turns 48 next month, had been linked to a spot on the undercard of Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua on December 11 in Cardiff, Wales.

Shakur Stevenson, Joe Cordina and Paddy Donovan were all at one time rumored to be in the running to face the former eight-division champion.

But a contest with 30-year-old Benn, who in September was stopped in two one-sided rounds by Ryan Garcia, now appears to be under serious consideration after Eddie Hearn confirmed that Pacquiao, 62-8-3 (39 KOs), will not feature on the Fury-Joshua undercard.

Benn signed with Zuffa Boxing in an initial one-fight deal worth a reported $15 million. In April, he defeated Regis Prograis – who subsequently retired – on points over 10 rounds.

That was followed by another lucrative assignment against Garcia. This time, however, Benn looked out of his depth in his bid to win the WBC welterweight title.

The appeal of a contest with Pacquiao, who is more than a decade past his best, should need little explanation.

"He's an all-time legend. He's an eight-division world champion, he's an all-time, he'll go down in the history books," Benn told Sky Sports.

"Another stadium show sounds nice. I know the Pacquiao fight was offered to me for December.

"And I wasn't ready to get the fight done in December. But if he wants it Q1 next year, we can do Pacquiao.

"The fight got presented to me for December and it was just too soon, making weight, got a newborn son, so for me it was really about spending time with my family."

Benn reveals making weight cost him vs. Garcia

Benn, 25-2 (14 KOs), also reflected on his defeat to Garcia, for which he made the welterweight limit for the first time since April 2022 after pushing the WBC to install him as its mandatory challenger in their 147lbs ranking.

"I don't know what I was thinking making 147lbs. You think right now I'm 185, 186lbs," Benn said.

"Making 147, a lot of people said I can't do it and of course the inner me was: 'Alright cool, you can't do it - watch me.' It's one thing making the weight and it's one thing performing at your best at the weight. And you know it showed, I paid the price for chasing greatness.

"My future's at middleweight. I thought about light-middle, there's nothing in me at light-middle either – that's how bad the weight cut was.

"There's no excuses, Ryan is a phenomenal fighter, caught me with a phenomenal shot and he was the better man on the night.

"I dust it all off, dust the cobwebs off and come back and be a better version of myself."