I still don’t get why some boxing fans believe that Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr. is coming out of retirement to fight Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao in a rematch.
If you’ve been following Mayweather’s boxing career like I have then you will know that he is risk averse and will only take a fight that would earn him the most money or a decent amount of money with the least risk.
For example, after he got a shady decision over an injured Manny Pacquiao in 2015, he took a soft touch fight against Andre Berto and retired.
He apparently promised Pacquiao face to face that he would give him a rematch, but in this business you have to get it on paper for it to hold up, a handshake or word of mouth deal from Mayweather is not reliable. He has told Pacquiao he would rematch him several times and went back on his word.
Most recently Mayweather met with Pacquiao in a Japanese night club and posted it on his social media telling Pacquiao to his face he would fight him again, only to say he never said that. Then he tells media outlets that he is officially retired only to announce he is coming back to boxing in 2020.
You always have to take what Mayweather says with a grain of salt because he can tell you one thing today and the next day claim he never said it and go back on his word.
When Mayweather returned to boxing in 2017 he took on UFC mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor. He wanted to fight McGregor in a boxing match because he knew that it would attract casual fans to order the spectacle and would be a low risk and high reward fight. He was right, the Mayweather-McGregor fight was the second highest selling Pay-Per-View event behind Mayweather-Pacquiao with both selling over 4 million PPV buys.
Mayweather has to have the cards stacked in his favor because he knows his greatest accomplishment and only selling point is his undefeated record. This is why he has to have everything in his favor like weight class, glove type and size, ring size, IV use exemptions, hometown advantage, and judges, so he doesn’t lose. Once you take that 0 away from him he becomes human and his accomplishments won’t seem as impressive, while Pacquiao has multiple losses just like all the legends before him from taking risks, his feats as an 8-division world champion and 4 decade champion outshine Floyd’s.
The risk of losing his undefeated record is why I don’t believe for a second he will fight Manny Pacquiao again. After Floyd saw how good the 41-year-old part time fighter, full-time Senator looked against a powerful, young and undefeated Keith Thurman, he changed his tune instantly on the possibility of a rematch.
Pacquiao who beat Thurman for the WBA title making him the oldest welterweight champion in history would be too dangerous and likely beat up a inactive Mayweather coming out of retirement.
Mayweather will probably fight another UFC fighter in a boxing match since he is doing business with UFC president Dana White now.
Look for a Floyd Mayweather vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov fight in boxing in 2020. Khabib is an undefeated MMA fighter and widely considered the best pound for pound, they will market it as an undefeated vs. undefeated and best versus the best fight.
The only difference is Khabib is a wrestler not known for his boxing and he will have to fight Floyd with big gloves on in a boxing ring and will be like a fish out of water. Once they build it up and promote it the casuals will buy into the hype and after the fight Floyd will laugh all the way to the bank and retire with another fight to pad his record to 51-0 while avoiding the top dogs in boxing.
I am an avid fan of boxing and video games. My first fight of memory was watching Prince Naseem Hamed destroy Kevin Kelly. I enjoy all aspects of the sport. My favorite current boxer is Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao. My favorite boxing match is Diego Corrales vs. Jose Luis Castillo 1. I love watching boxing on Pay-Per-View more than being there live because you can really enjoy and watch the action from the best view.