Negotiations for a second showdown between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have already begun, and based on the report from an insider, the fight is virtually in the bag.
Salve Asis of Philippine Star said an anonymous source informed her that Pacquiao has already agreed to fight Mayweather again, and both camps are now discussing on their split of the fight purse.
Pacquiao has been gunning for another shot at Mayweather ever since he lost to the American via unanimous decision in 2015. Sean Gibbons of MP Promotions confirmed that there have been multiple attempts to book a Pacquiao vs.
Mayweather rematch, but Floyd was uninterested in coming out of retirement at that point.
It’s still unknown though if the second fight would just be an exhibition or a professionally-sanctioned 12-round boxing fight.
A week ago, Mayweather announced on Instagram that he was arranging an exhibition match with Pacquiao in Tokyo, Japan. Pacquiao immediately downplayed Mayweather’s claim, stressing he will only accept his rival’s challenge if it’s going to be an actual boxing match.
The first Pacquiao vs. Mayweather bout set numerous boxing records, including the biggest pay-per-view buys (four million) and revenue ($410 million) ever. Despite the first bout’s failure to live up to the hype, many boxing pundits believe the second fight will still be a certified box-office draw with projected revenue of around $200 million.
Play Mayweather or retire
Bob Arum, the legendary Top-Rank boxing promoter, thinks Pacquiao’s next fight should be against Mayweather, if not, he must retire.
“If he gets Mayweather, do that fight and retire. If he doesn’t get Mayweather he should retire. It’s not worth it for him to continue boxing,” Arum said in an exclusive interview with World Boxing News.
Arum pointed out that Pacquiao, who will turn 41 this December, can no longer afford to take the same punishment he endured against Keith Thurman last July.
While the promoter thinks his former fighter can still slug it out with the best welterweights out there, he warned that taking hard hits to the head at this stage of his career could have residual effects on Pacquiao’s quality of life beyond his boxing career.
Pacquiao’s shortlist
Boxing journalist Michael Benson reported that Pacquiao will be announcing the identity of his next opponent in the coming weeks with four-division world champion Mikey Garcia and former WBC welterweight king Danny Garcia emerging as the front-runners.
Many assumed that the winner of the Errol Spence-Shawn Porter clash on September would be the one in line to face Pacquiao next. However, the Filipino boxer’s camp insisted that they only want fights that would make sense for an aging Pacquiao going forward.
Spence, Porter, and Terrence Crawford might be the biggest fishes in the 147-pound weight class, but Gibbons thought pitting Pacquiao against any of these fighters would just a high-risk, low-reward gamble on their part.
