As the boxing world awaits Saturday’s rematch between Gennady “GGG” Golovkin and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, the foundation for another — and perhaps even bigger — rematch is being laid.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Saturday posted a video to Instagram in which he can be seen talking to Manny Pacquiao at a music festival in Tokyo. At multiple points in the video, the 41-year-old Mayweather claims he’ll fight the 39-year-old Pacquiao later this year.
“I’m coming back to fight Manny Pacquiao this year,” Mayweather wrote in the caption. “Another 9 figure pay day on the way.”
(You can click here to view Mayweather’s post.)
It’s difficult to decipher much of what Mayweather and Pacquiao say in the video, but, at one point, it sounds as if Mayweather says the bout will take place in December. A Pacquiao representative since has told ESPN that Mayweather’s camp is targeting December for his comeback.
“We gonna take the belt. We gonna get the payday. And I don’t want no shoulder excuses,” Mayweather said in the video sent to ESPN.
Floyd Mayweather says a rematch with Manny Pacquiao is happening this year. pic.twitter.com/t0FK2Ujc8Y
— ESPN (@espn) September 15, 2018
Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) beat Pacquiao via unanimous decision in their first meeting in 2015. The boxing legend since has beaten Andre Berto and Conor McGregor, the latter of which Mayweather claimed was his final opponent. Pacquiao (60-7-2) defeated Lucas Matthysse in July to claim a secondary welterweight title.
There has been no official confirmation about the rematch, but it sure seems like these two boxing legends are on a collision course once again.