Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao To Sign For Two Fights? Deal By End Of January, Pac Says

A fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao has been almost six years in the making, as on-again, off-again negotiations between the two fighters’ representatives have started way back in 2009. But now 2015 is looking like a dream year for boxing fans, because the two living ring legends may fight not once, but twice this year.

With both sides appearing increasingly confident that negotiations for a Mayweather vs. Pacquiao superfight are finally nearing the finish line, reports now say that the final deal will likely include a rematch clause.

And while rematch clauses are usually included in boxing contracts to protect a higher ranked fighter in the case of an unexpected loss, in the case of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, both fighters stand to benefit from a repeat performance, no matter how the first fight turns out.

In November, Pacquiao’s Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach said that it was Mayweather who was demanding a rematch clause, and “that’s okay with us.” In fact, last month, Roach went on the record calling for Pacquiao and Mayweather to fight three fights — a trilogy.

“If they split the first two, we could have a third. There could be a rubbermatch,” said Roach at the time. “We could have three big fights. It’s been done before, it could be done again.”

As the Inquisitr reported last week, the Pacquiao and Mayweather camps have already agreed on a venue for the fight — the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas — and ironed out the drug testing issues that caused the 2009 superfight negotiations to collapse.

Now, according to Britain’s Daily Telegraph boxing columnist Gareth Davies, “it is understood that a rematch clause is likely between the two prize fighters” when they finalize their contract.

A source told The Los Angeles Times that the contract could be wrapped up as early as the end of this week. Pacquiao himself told the media in the Philippines that, “We will make an announcement before the end of the month. I think it will happen.”

The fight is already projected to be the highest-grossing boxing match of all time. A rematch could top the first fight in revenue earnings, considering that any fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao is unlikely to end definitively, in a knockout.

Mayweather has scored only two knockouts in 12 fights since stopping Sharmba Mitchell in 2005 — and one of those knockouts came on a sucker punch when his opponent, Victor Ortiz, dropped his guard to argue with the referee.

Pacquiao, despite his reputation as a fearsome puncher has now gone nine fights since stopping Miguel Cotto in the 12th round of their November, 2009, bout. In fact, Pacquiao has been knocked out — by Juan Manuel Marquez in December of 2012 — more recently than he has KO’ed an opponent.

Finally, beyond fighting each other a second time, Neither boxer has any possible opponents, other than possibly Britain’s Amir Khan, who could bring significant value to a pay per view fight, making the prospect of Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao Part 2 even more likely.