By: Hans Themistode
Former five division world champion Floyd Mayweather Jr had a long and lucrative career.
A spotless 50 and 0 record coupled with multiple championships provides credence to that statement. In his last official ring appearance, he was seen stopping UFC star Conor McGregor in the tenth round at the T-Mobile arena, in Las Vegas Nevada. It was a bout in which it was reported to have made him over 100 million dollars.
Still, with all of the money in the world to go along with the title of one of the very best to ever step inside of a ring, it has proven to not be enough for Mayweather.
Late last year in 2018, Mayweather returned to the ring in an exhibition contest against Tenshin Nasukawa in Japan. Mayweather easily won via first round stoppage. There was a belief that Mayweather would once again return to the ring in Japan for another exhibition matchup. Who could blame him? Mayweather revealed that he was paid 9 million dollars for his easy victory over Nasukawa.
With the possibility of another big pay day, this time in China, Mayweather began talks with promoters in order to secure the event.
Although Mayweather could be paid handsomely once again for what would seem like an easy matchup, he has instead opted to go in another direction. One that could prove to be much more lucrative. A rematch with Manny Pacquiao.
“Mayweather came two times to Hong Kong,” said Honk Kong’s DEF promotions director Jay Lau. “He spoke with my son Jayson and we had communications but now he is focusing on the Pacquiao rematch. We were talking about an exhibition in China, a big event but not a recorded professional boxing fight. Something like Mayweather vs Tenshin in Japan.”
Talks of Mayweather vs Pacquiao 2 shouldn’t come as a surprise. When the two met in 2015, they broke pay per view records with 4.6 million. Mayweather also reportedly made roughly 300 million for the contest.
Pacquiao, who is an eight division world champion and future hall of famer in his own right, claimed that he was not 100 percent for the contest, suffering from a torn labrum. Mayweather was never buying his excuses and seemed to be done with Pacquiao. Fast forward several years later, and it seems as though the two will tangle once again, or at least according to Lau.
“I’ll let him do his thing with Manny, the rematch is the biggest thing that can happen, so why bother with the exhibition bout first? If that happens we will stop everything and let him do his thing first. I hope it does happen, it could be a big possibility that fight is the grand opening for the Japan casinos. The only thing I will say is he’s expensive, so we have to work really hard to get him back over to Asia – the offer is not easy.”
It is difficult to say whether a rematch with Pacquiao will actually take place, but Mayweather has always been fascinated with money. If he is offered another large some of cash, a Mayweather vs Pacquiao rematch could become a reality.
