Rumors of Manny Pacquiao vs. Floyd Mayweather Jr. II hits fever pitch anew after a video of the undefeated American fighter, wherein he claims that he’s on his way to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of arranging a second showdown with Pacquiao, has become viral over the weekend.

In the video posted by a still unknown source, Mayweather hyped about his upcoming Saudi Arabia trip and revealed that talks on a potential rematch with Pacquiao are set to begin in the desert country.

“It’s an honor to come to Saudi Arabia to sit down with you guys to talk about the Mayweather vs Pacquiao rematch.“Saudi Arabia.

Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather. I’m on my way,” Mayweather said the in the video.

Although the source of the video puts its legitimacy under question, the 10-second video proved to be enough for hardcore and casual Boxing fans to rekindle hope for another titanic match between the two legendary boxers of this modern era.

Mayweather, 42, hasn’t fought a professional boxing bout since defeating Andre Berto in 2015. His last in-ring activities resulted in a win over MMA star Conor McGregor in 2017 and Japanese kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa in December 2018, but these fights can be considered nothing more than glorified exhibition matches.

Pacquiao, 40, has been the more active fighter of the two, winning five of his six fights since that 2015 loss to Mayweather. His only defeat during this stretch came against Australia’s Jeff Horn in a highly-controversial match in 2017 in Brisbane. 2019 has seen Pacman returning to an elite level at the 147-pound weight class with victories over Adrein Broner in February and previously undefeated Keith Thurman in July.

It’s worth mentioning that Pacquiao and Mayweather have had back-and-forth verbal contests on social media over the past few weeks. Mayweather accused his Filipino rival of coat-tailing on his name, while Pacquiao challenged the 51-0 boxer to be ‘relevant’ again by fighting him in the ring one more time.

It all seems that the competitive juices are still running high within these generational fighters, thus giving fans more reasons to tune in for the next update on the negotiation between the camps of Pacquiao and Mayweather.

Mayweather 'the Promoter'

While Mayweather isn’t known as an exciting fighter even during his younger days, he has nonetheless built a lucrative brand by promoting his lavish lifestyle and eccentric behavior in and out the ring.

Mayweather has been money when it comes to promoting his fights. He has mastered every nuance there is in prizefighting. His high-profile showdowns with Oscar Dela Hoya, Miguel Cotto, Juan Manuel Marquez, Canelo Alvarez, McGregor, and Pacquiao weren’t received highly by boxing pundits due to the defensive nature of these fights, yet every single one of these cards generated at least 1 million pay-per-view buys all because Mayweather knows how to create intrigue surrounding these bouts.

No one really knows, but he could be at it again when he talked about a second Pacquiao vs. Mayweather clash. Money May knows that not a single fighter in the world can give him the opportunity to earn at least $100 million in revenue, except Pacquiao, who has continued to command millions of faithful followers around the world.

The Filipino fighting champ has remained a relevant figure in the welterweight division at 40-years-old, and his latest win over Thurman to gain a WBA (super) title has helped improve his case as one of the elites at the 147-pound weight class, if not the greatest boxer of all time.

Saudi Gold or Saudi Coal

Saudi Arabia might not be the best location to stage a Pacquiao vs. Mayweather rematch at least on the promoter’s and Cable TV’s standpoint, but it could definitely provide the fighters involved the fattest guaranteed paycheck of their careers, excluding their share from pay-per-view buys and live gate revenues.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars over the past two years in an effort to make the oil-rich country a hub for sports entertainment. For example, WWE has held three major pay-per-view events in Saudi Arabia, with another one (Crown Jewel 2019) taking place in October. WWE allegedly received millions of cash from the Saudi government for the staging of these events amidst report of rampant human right violation in the country.

Saudi Arabia also held major boxing matches recently such as the Callum Smith vs. George Grooves World Boxing Super Series super middleweight fight in September 2018 and the Amir Khan vs. Billy Dib welterweight bout in July 2019. Two weeks ago, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport added a big one to Saudi’s boxing portfolio by announcing that the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz will be held on December 7 in Diriyah.

The prospect of earning an unimaginable amount of oil money might have piqued Mayweather’s interest in pursuing a fight with Pacquiao in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, there could be a chance that Money May is just messing around. Everybody knows that Mayweather is a social media guy, and it’s odd to see none of his recent posts on Twitter or Instagram confirms nor denies any report of a Saudi trip, let alone a negotiation for a Pacquiao rematch. Perhaps, Mayweather is just at his very best: trolling people.
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