Pacquiao states that September rematch with Mayweather will eventuate.
Manny Pacquiao’s 2015 fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. still holds the record for the highest-grossing boxing event in the sport’s history.
Doing 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and generating over $600 million in total revenue, the success of Mayweather-Pacquiao 1 highlighted the star power of the men who were respectively considered the #1 and #2 pound-for-pound fighters in the world at one point.
This was despite the fact that the two were in the latter half of their careers at the time, with Mayweather 38 years old and Pacquiao 36.
Despite the hype, Mayweather would win a decision in a low-octane encounter, with the American’s practical perfection too much for even the Filipino buzzsaw.
Fans still wonder what could have been had the two squared off earlier. Instead, though, we will be finding out how a fight between even older versions of them will go down.
At least, that’s the plan, as the 49-year-old Mayweather and 47-year-old Pacquiao are meant to be running it back on the 19th of September at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Netflix.
Yet recent comments from Mayweather have thrown the event into doubt, with the undefeated sensation claiming that a location and the professional status of the bout have not yet been agreed upon.
This was in contrast to what the official reports stated, and it left many confused as to what was going on.
Well, at least on Pacquiao’s side, there is no confusion.
“When I heard Mayweather say it was an exhibition, I called my team right away and asked, ‘What’s happening? What’s wrong with this guy?’ What we signed was a real fight, not an exhibition,” said “PacMan” to ESPN. “I don’t know where he got this idea from or where his head was at, but the fight is a real fight, and it absolutely won’t be an exhibition.”
Pacquiao continued, “We both signed the contract and we both got our advance on our purses, so there’s no way we’re going to cancel this fight. Even with our first fight, he’s a lot to deal with, but the fight happened.”
Jas Mathur (CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions) stated that Mayweather referring to his September rematch with Pacquiao as an exhibition was in breach of contract, but that they were “making headway” towards solving any existing problems.
“We are 100% confident that the overall outcome from this situation will turn out positive”, said Mathur to ESPN. “We’re gaining progress and traction. Floyd has to live up to his obligations, and I think he wants the fight to happen, too.”
Outside of a second encounter with Mayweather, Pacquiao was expected to be engaging in an exhibition with Ruslan Provodnikov this month. That, however, now appears to be an uncertainty.
Mayweather, too, has a tentatively scheduled exhibition with fellow legend Mike Tyson set to take place at some point in the next few months, while he is expected to be facing another “Iron Mike” in Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis this June.
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