By Edward Chaykovsky
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has denied a recent claim by Manny Pacquiao, who stated in a video chat that the two of them were negotiating a potential rematch for next year.
Mayweather won a twelve round unanimous decision over Pacquiao on May 2nd. Their showdown was the richest fight in boxing history, generating over 4.4 million pay-per-view purchases and half a billion in revenue.
A few days ago, Pacquiao held a live chat on Facebook and told his followers that a deal was being worked out for a Mayweather rematch.
"I don't know yet who's my opponent next but we're still negotiating right now about the rematch with Floyd Mayweather so hoping for that," Pacquiao said.
ESPN's Stephen A. Smith, who is close friends with Mayweather, sent a text message to the unbeaten boxer to confirm Pacquiao's statements.
Mayweather responded, with a text message, denying the existence of any negotiations for a rematch.
"It's totally false. I’m not fighting anymore," Mayweather reacted in a text, according to Smith.
This is the second time in the last few weeks where Pacquiao claimed there were negotiations taking place with Mayweather. A week or two back, Top Rank's CEO Bob Arum, who promotes Pacquiao, denied his own fighter's claim of a Mayweather rematch being negotiated.
Mayweather announced his retirement last month, following a twelve round decision victory over Andre Berto.
Leonard Ellerbe, the CEO for Mayweather Promotions, took to the social networks two days ago to make it clear that Floyd was still very much in retirement.
