(Esther Lin / Premier Boxing Champions)
LOS ANGELES – If there was one thing Manny Pacquiao learned while waiting more than five years for Floyd Mayweather Jnr to sign to fight him while they were in their prime, it was to get Mayweather to commit.
“Make him sign first,” Pacquiao told his representatives, who were working in unison with Netflix and the Sphere in Las Vegas. “Then, I’ll sign.”
Even with those stipulations, even with Mayweather signing multiple contracts to fight Pacquiao in a legit professional rematch of their richest bout in the history of prizefighting in September, and even with Mayweather using those contracts to secure a multi-million-dollar loan, the unbeaten Mayweather is reverting to his slippery, non-commital self to imperil the rematch.
Mayweather, at a public appearance in Las Vegas late last month, said the rematch is instead an exhibition and that he’s uncertain if it’s taking place at the Sphere.
That defies everything he has signed, Pacquiao and his representatives contend, and so after declaring Mayweather in breach of his signed agreements, the parties are waiting to see how sincere his effort to delay things [again] will be.
“I know he knows that the contract he signed is for a real fight. That’s how he got the advances from Netflix and the lender,” Pacquiao told BoxingScene at a family dinner attended by his boxer-son, Emmanuel “Jimuel” Pacquiao, and the legend’s five-month-old granddaughter.
Does record eight-division champion Pacquiao, 47, believe his fellow International Boxing Hall of Fame member Mayweather, 49, is working to squirm out of the fight in order to avoid any risk to his 50-0 record?
“There’s no reason for him to cancel it,” Pacquiao, 62-8-3 (39 KOs), said. “If he does, that’s his right, but he will face a lot of problems: from Netflix, [from event organizers and sponsors], MP Promotions … that’s why for this fight, I made sure that he signs first – based on my experience before.”
Pacquiao said he can recall signing two contracts that were later sent to the shredder during the period between 2010 and 2015, when Mayweather-Pacquiao I was ripe to be made as each occupied the top two spots in the mythical pound-for-pound rankings.
“Before the previous fight, we were dealing with him, dealing for like eight years. There were so many promises, and I think of all the times I signed a contract thinking that was the one. That was at least…
2026-04-07 11:00:00
