Floyd Mayweather, arguably one of the greatest fighters of all time, announced that he is scheduled to fight again in July in Japan. But it isn't a professional boxing fight. And it's not going to be against one of the best boxers in the world - Manny Pacquiao.
People have been clamoring a rematch between two of the generation's best fighters. Back in 2015, Mayweather squared off with Pacquiao and convincingly routed the Filipino champion on his way to a lopsided unanimous decision.
Pacquiao has since fought different fighters after his defeat at Mayweather's hands and the People's Champ has shown that he is still an elite boxer. Meanwhile, aside from his different business ventures, Mayweather has dabbled in exhibition matches after beating Andre Berto and Conor McGregor following the Pacquiao fight.
Fight fans last saw Mayweather in a boxing match last January. Mayweather faced off against Japanese superstar Tenshin Nasukawa and picked up $9 million dollars for his effort.
Following Pacquiao's dominant win against Adrian Broner, fans and boxing analysts alike started to talk about a possible rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao. Mayweather deftly sidestepped all the inquiries and the man they call Money May genuinely seemed uninterested in a Pacquiao rematch.
"I've got another one (exhibition fight), I think in July," Mayweather told TMZ. Mayweather added that he expects to get $80 million from "four or five" exhibition fights alone this year.
When asked about a possible rematch with Pacquiao, Mayweather simply dodged the question and said that he's not in the show to talk about boxing. Meanwhile, long-time Pacquaio trainer Freddie Roach suggests that the Filipino senator may retire if he doesn't get the Mayweather fight.
During an interview with Fight Hub TV, Roach said that Pacquiao has firmly set his sights on Mayweather. "If we don't get Floyd, we might retire," Roach said.
However, recent reports suggest that Pacquiao is looking for possible opponents as Floyd Mayweather is seemingly snubbing the Pacman's challenge. There are a number of quality opponents for Pacquiao in the welterweight division and many of them share the same promoter, Al Haymon's Premier Boxing Champions (PBC), with the Filipino ring icon.
At 40 years-old, Pacquiao has proven that he still belongs to the elite class of welterweights. Long-time promoter and CEO of Mayweather Promotions Leonard Ellerbe, after the Pacquiao-Broner title fight, stated that Pacquiao can literally have his pick of an opponent if Pacquiao chooses to fight again.
Like Mayweather, Ellerbe deftly declined to comment on a possible Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch before it got traction. The veteran promoter then floated the names of Keith Thurman, Danny Garcia, Errol Spence, Mikey Garcia, and Shawn Porter as possible future opponents for Pacquiao.
In theory, a fight against any PBC fighters would be easier to set up. But then again, it wouldn't be a fight that the people really want.
Boxing fans are used to disappointment by now. While boxing exhibitions in Japan worth $80 million dollars may sound good (it should!) to Floyd Mayweather, in the end, the only fight that the boxing fans want to see is the Pacquiao-Mayweather 2. And as of now, it sounds impossible.
