Floyd Mayweather Jr. Vs. Manny Pacquiao Rematch Will Happen This Year, At Least That’s What Mayweather Claims

In a dramatic announcement of a fight that no one may want to see, 41-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced on his Instagram account that he will come out of retirement “this year” for a rematch of his widely panned — but box-office record-setting — 2015 super fight with 39-year-old Manny Pacquiao.

Their bout on May 2, 2015, pulled in a reported $400 million in home-viewer pay-per-view fees, according to CNN Money. Combined with live ticket sales of $72 million and millions more from bars and other venues that paid $15,500 for streaming rights — and revenue from closed-circuit telecasts in Las Vegas and overseas TV broadcasts— the total haul from Mayweather vs. Pacquiao totaled over $500 million.

But the fight itself was largely dismissed as a snoozefest that brought a continuing cascade of boos from the MGM Grand crowd of 16,000 — who paid an average ticket price of $4,450 — as Mayweather employed his trademark defensive style, coverage up and dancing away from the heavy-punching Pacquiao, scoring with just enough pot shots to take a seemingly effortless unanimous decision win, as ESPN reported.

Since then, Mayweather has been largely inactive, fighting only twice — once against lightly regarded Andre Brett, and then in an inter-sport super fight, winning a TKO stoppage over MMA champion Conor McGregor, as BoxRec reported. This win pushed Mayweather’s record to an even 50-0, surpassing Rocky Marciano’s all-time best career record of 49-0.

Now, at least according to the former five-division champion, Mayweather wants to put his record-setting undefeated mark on the line one more time, though the claim may also be nothing but an attempt at grabbing some attention.

Pacquaio, who has fought four times since the Mayweather loss, planted the seed for the supposed rematch, following his defeat of Lucas Matthysse in July — a win that once again earned Pacquiao a welterweight championship belt, as reported by USA Today.

“I have the belt, so it’s up to him. If he wants to come back in boxing let’s do a second one,” Pacquiao said in his post-fight interview after stopping Mathysse in the seventh round of their clash in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 15.

Mayweather and Pacquiao then ran into each other by apparent coincidence at a music event and, as can be seen in the Instagram video above on this page, discussed the rematch, as detailed by MMA Mania.

Despite the overall disappointment generated by the first Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight, there may be at least some intrigue around a second round, as Pacquiao later revealed that he fought Mayweather with a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder — according to ESPN — which limited his punching ability.