Floyd Mayweather Jnr faces a Thursday deadline to rectify being in breach of contract for his agreed-upon professional fight rematch with Manny Pacquiao on September 19 on Netflix.
Jas Mathur, the CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, told BoxingScene Wednesday that Mayweather, by telling reporters Saturday that the Pacquiao bout, which will takes place at The Sphere in Las Vegas, would be an exhibition, breached contracts he has already signed while already accepting cash advances on the agreements.
“The fight is contracted for The Sphere, booked at the Sphere, scheduled at the Sphere for September 19. It’s booked as a professional fight, not as an exhibition. It was never booked as an exhibition. There were never any talks of an exhibition all the way from when these conversations started in August,” Mathur said.
Mayweather told Vegas Sports Today during an appearance at MGM Grand that coincided with the Sebastian Fundora-Keith Thurman junior middleweight title fight, that the bout would be an exhibition because Mayweather, 49, and Pacquiao, 47, have already proven their greatness.
He also said it was unclear if The Sphere, which stages major events including the U2 and Eagles residencies and has done a UFC card, would serve as the site of the bout.
All of this came at the astonishment of Pacquiao, Netflix and the Sphere’s parent company, MSG.
“It was never remotely close to an exhibition. Anyone can say what they want to say. Floyd can build his own little narrative months later, but based on the contracts that have been signed, this is a real fight at the Sphere,” Mathur said.
Could Mayweather, 50-0, after most recently fighting UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor in a 2017 pro boxing match, be getting cold feet about his ability to remain undefeated?
While he has participated in a spate of exhibition fights since 2017, including a bout against Logan Paul, and a scheduled future exhibition versus Mike Tyson, the Pacquiao fight was announced as an event that would put that perfect record at risk.
And Pacquaio, returning to fight in full health after losing a unanimous decision to Mayweather in the richest prizefight of all time in 2015, looked sharp in fighting then-WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios to a draw in July.
“To put it bluntly, he doesn’t want to do a pro fight suddenly, and he wanted to do a pro fight when he was signing the contracts and taking the deposits,” Mathur said. “Once all of that got exhausted, he wants to switch it to an exhibition. Whatever the reason may be – whether he’s scared, whether he just wants to keep doing the exhibitions because he thinks they’re going to generate as much as the first one did with Logan – regardless what his reason is, we really don’t care.”
Mathur declined to disclose how much guaranteed money Mayweather will earn for fighting Pacquiao, and he declined to say how much he has already taken in advances on “three contracts.”
Mayweather has also taken a “significant loan” on the deal, so “he’s got a significant amount of money he’s taken from this.”
Those figures were based on it being a professional fight sanctioned by the Nevada Athletic Commission, and Netflix’s anticipated viewership streams were also rooted in the idea it was to be a real fight.
“Everything from the beginning has been for a real fight. He’s in breach right now. He has to provide written confirmation by tomorrow that he has intent to cure it, and there’s a certain amount of time … there’s multiple breaches across the board,” Mathur said.
Mathur said he and others have already reached out to Mayweather to correct the situation.
“He’s fully aware. This guy thinks he knows what he’s doing every time, and when people try to reach out to him to help or give him advice, he’s always, ‘I got this, I got this, I have it figured out,’” Mathur said. “We definitely don’t because we don’t have our next steps figured out.”
As for the Tuesday night FightHype report that Mayweather-Pacquiao 2 was canceled, Mathur said FightHype should post an official notice of cancellation.
“This fight is not canceled. Floyd Mayweather is in breach of his contract,” Mathur said. “There’s been no request by anybody to cancel it.”
Mayweather has been asked to provide written confirmation that he intends to “live up to his contract, put on an honest fight, and put on a fight that lives up to his deal and not degrade or disrespect anyone involved in setting this up,” Mathur said.
Pacquiao, meanwhile, is miffed by Mayweather’s backpedaling.
“Manny is not happy … he’s been looking for this rematch. Nobody ever got a contract, and Netflix stepping up as a media empire holds a lot of weight,” Mathur said.
“It reassured Manny this was real. … They put the stamp on this. He’s obviously displeased. He wants to fight Floyd. He does not want an exhibition. Has no interest in that because it was never part of the conversation. Neither does Netflix.”
Asked if the fight would ever occur as an exhibition, Mathur said, “The fight will not take place as a pure exhibition under the contract and terms and platform we are partnered in today. As far as I’m concerned, we do not have interest in an exhibition with Floyd Mayweather.”
