A representative for Manny Pacquiao is willing to believe that Conor Benn is a clean fighter, a view that could possibly go a long way to making a fight between the two welterweights.

Gibbons, an advisor to the eight-division champion and politician from the Philippines, said in a recent interview that he is inclined to think that England’s Benn is not the drug cheat as his name suggests these days, especially in the wake of a ruling from the World Boxing Council.

Last month, the WBC determined that Benn’s two positive drug tests could be explained by an abnormally high consumption of eggs, resulting in Benn returning to their welterweight rankings.

Benn failed two separate tests for the banned performance-enhancing drug clomifene last year. He is still under investigation by the British Boxing Board of Control and United Kingdom Anti-Doping. Benn cannot in his own country until he is licensed again by the Board.

Talk of a Pacquiao-Benn fight has ramped up in recent days after Gibbons tweeted a mock poster for that matchup.

Although the WBC verdict has a small sphere of influence,  pertaining solely to Benn’s standing within that organization, it has become a rallying point for Benn and his supporters as a sign of his total innocence, with many characterizing the ruling as an outright vindication Benn of his drug results.

Gibbons apparently also perceives the WBC ruling as exculpatory. Gibbons said he wants to give Benn the “benefit of the doubt” because of an incident involving a failed drug test with one of his former fighters, retired featherweight champion Orlando Salido, back in 2006.

“All I can say is it’s confusing,” Gibbons said of the drama stemming from Benn’s drug tests in an interview FightHype.com “I don’t know about the 270-page report, I don’t know about the eggs, whatever, but I know the man was cleared and I got to give the benefit of the doubt, because I had a fighter, Orlando Salido, they said he tested positive for Nandrolone. I know Orlando Salido never did a thing in his life. So when something like this happens and they have a study and they look at it, I give the guy the benefit of the doubt.”

Gibbons made it clear that there is still a “long way to go” to make a fight between Pacquiao and Benn, adding that if the matchup ever materialized it would likely take place in the Middle East.

“There are discussions but there’s a long way to go,” Gibbons said. “I mean, would people love to see Manny in the ring? Yeah. Conor? Yeah. Two big names. So it’s kind of just been thrown out there, and there’s where it’s kind of at. It’s an idea that Eddie Hearn had and Manny said I’m up to hear about it. But until Conor got cleared by the WBC for the issues with the tests, Manny wouldn’t fight him. Now the guy’s cleared, so, you know, if it can happen, I think it would be a fun fight.”