The bonus of Manny Pacquiao returning to the ring earlier this year to fight for a welterweight belt was the additional effort to dangle the strap before Floyd Mayweather Jnr for a rematch of their most lucrative prizefight ever.
Pacquiao’s draw against Mario Barrios Jnr didn’t net him the coveted prize, but the performance was strong enough to lure Mayweather to the discussion table.
Confirming a Monday report by The Ring, one official connected to the situation told BoxingScene that talks indeed have been stirred between the two Hall of Fame fighters.
Later Monday, Pacquiao told BoxingScene he intends for the bout to be "a real fight."
The Ring reported Netflix, which will stream the Jake Paul-Gervonta Davis exhibition November 14 in Miami, is interested in Mayweather-Pacquiao II.
Mayweather, 48, earlier this year announced his intent to fight former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, 59, in a 2026 exhibition and Pacquiao has been in talks for a late January bout against WBA welterweight champion Rolly Romero.
The Pacquiao-Romero bout would be shelved if Mayweather-Pacquiao II discussions can spawn an agreement, the official said.
“But who knows with these guys? You have to move mountains to get these two giant egos to agree,” the official said.
Mayweather defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision in their 2015 bout at MGM Grand in Las Vegas, drawing a record 4.6 pay-per-view buys and generating more than $600 million in revenue.
Afterward, Pacquiao revealed he fought through a training-camp shoulder injury that required surgery after the bout, and he has longed for a second crack at Mayweather, telling BoxingScene before the Barrios bout that he was confident that putting on a strong showing would renew conversations between the pair.
That has now happened, but as the boxing world witnessed when both men were primed for a showdown in 2010 yet didn’t fight until a half decade later, striking a final deal could prove problematic.
