Mayweather: I will Fight Pacquiao this Year
Floyd Mayweather never seems far from the spotlight and the retired fighter has revealed he will fight Manny Pacquiao for a nine-figure sum in December.
Mayweather appears to have been tempted into a 51st professional fight having brought the curtain down on his career after beating UFC star Conor McGregor in August 2017.
Pacquiao lost to the undefeated Mayweather in May 2015 but the Filipino wants a rematch and a video of the American appears to have confirmed Pacquiao’s wishes will come true when he is seen saying ‘I’m coming back in December’.
‘I’m coming back to fight Manny Pacquiao this year,’ said Mayweather, who ran into Pacquiao in Japan according to his Instagram post. ‘Another nine-figure payday on the way.’
The verbal jibes between the pair continue as the Filipino reminds Mayweather that he ‘has the belts’, only for the American to fire back to claims in 2015 about injury in their first fight.
‘I don’t want to be hearing “Oh, my shoulder hurts,”‘ he said.
Pacquiao, when quizzed on initial rumours of a rematch, recently said: ‘Mayweather? If he decides to go back to boxing then that is the time we are going to call the shots.
‘I have the belt, so it’s up to him. If he wants to come back in boxing, let’s do a second one.’
The pair’s first fight in 2015 was one of the most lucrative fights ever given it generated a combined purse of around $300 million (£230m) for the two fighters.
Mayweather, who has never tasted defeat in his career, won the contest by unanimous decision, seeing him walk away with the WBA World super welterweight title and the unified WBO and WBC World welterweight belts.
Pacquiao is Amir Khan’s first choice after his recent win but the Filipino will want to exact revenge on Mayweather if the opportunity presents itself.
After defeat first time round, Pacquiao revealed he was having issues with his shoulder in the run-up to the fight and with his fitness at an all-time high now, he would go in confident against the retired American.