Floyd Mayweather only wants ‘exhibition’ match with Pacquiao

THE boxing world is now in uproar after former welterweight world champion Floyd ‘Pretty Boy’ Mayweather Jr. unilaterally revised his scheduled bout with Manny ‘Pacman’ Pacquiao on September 19 in Las Vegas by now claiming it is an ‘exhibition match’ and not a professional fight with both of their records on the line.

The fight, to be promoted and shown on ‘Netflix,’ was first announced last February 23 with the venue to be held at the famous ‘The Sphere’ in Last Vegas.

It was immediately welcomed by the boxing world, hungry to relive the past glories in the welterweight division (147 lbs. limit) that both men dominated during their prime.

While the amount involved has not yet been disclosed, it is widely believed to generate at least the same revenue from their first fight.

That fight, held on May 2, 2025, topped more than $600 million in gross revenue of which, $410 million came from pay-per-view (PPV) alone, making it the most lucrative fight in the history of boxing and contact sport.

At the time of their first fight, Mayweather is holding the WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine belts while Pacquiao is the WBO champion.

Mayweather would go on to win via unanimous decision after 12 rounds in a fight that turned boring in the end when Mayweather decided not to slug it out with Pacquiao.

Pattern of only taking “sure wins”

On the sidelines of the Sebastian Fundora – Keith Thurman fight last March 28 for Fundora’s WBC super welterweight (junior middle weight) title that Fundora won by TKO in the sixth round, Mayweather, during a media interview, made the shocking claim that penciled fight with Pacquiao would be an “exhibition” and not a real fight with his unblemished ‘50-0’ (50 wins, no losses) record at stake.

Mayweather even claimed that the venue for the fight has not even been resolved, despite official announcement that it would be held at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

Netflix and Pacquiao, for their part, insist it would not be an exhibition, but a “real fight.”

“He (Mayweather) signed for a real fight,” Pacquiao said, adding he is “not interested” in fighting Mayweather again if it is not going to be the real thing.

Mayweather is now facing the real possibility of being sued in court for breach of contract.

Pacquiao’s MP Promotions also disclosed that ahead of the fight, Mayweather had already taken an undisclosed amount of “advances” from his share of the revenue.

It is widely believed that Mayweather wants to protect his unbeaten record by changing the term of his fight with Pacquiao to an exhibition. Last minute contract changes is a hallmark of Mayweather’s style of negotiations.

His decision to break the contract at this point opens him up to the one fight he may not possibly win with the potential of actually bankrupting him and destroying his reputation: the court of law.

Not the first time to break a contract

Oscar ‘Golden Boy’ Dela Hoya, a six-division world champion, in a social media post, insulted Mayweather for relabeling his September fight with Pacquiao as an exhibition.

He noted that after Mayweather beat him via split decision during their fight for the WBC super welterweight title in May 2007, Mayweather did not honor the rematch clause in their contract by announcing his retirement from boxing.

That clause stipulated a rematch to happen within one year after their fight or by September 2008.

In June, however, Mayweather announced his “retirement” from boxing.

Dela Hoya bared that “one year to the day” after that clause in their contract expired, Mayweather announced his return to professional boxing by taking on Juan Manuel Marquez, then the WBC lightweight champion.

The fight, a non-title, 12-rounds welterweight contest that took place in September 2009, was won by Mayweather via unanimous decision.

In the case of Pacquiao, their first fight was originally talked about in 2008, in the aftermath of Pacquiao’s demolition of Dela Hoya over eight rounds in a non-title welterweight fight that also crowned Pacquiao as the ‘Pound-for-Pound King.’

In the series of negotiations that followed running seven years, Mayweather would use the issue of blood tests and Pacquiao’s association with boxing promoter Bob Arum to avoid signing a fight contract.

When the fight did materialize in 2015, Pacquiao has already cemented his legacy as the world’s first 8-divisions champion by beating Antonio Margarito for the WBC super welterweight title in November 2010 while Mayweather is sporting a 47-0 record.

Earning big money with the least risk

Mayweather, 49, has taken the easier route of earning big money while not risking his professional record thru exhibition matches.

His last professional fight on August 25, 2017, was not against a ranked boxer but against UFC champion Conor McGregor whom he beat by TKO in the tenth round.

Aside from at least 8 exhibitions against well-known non-boxers since 2017 that earned him a lot of money, Mayweather is scheduled for an exhibition against the (very) old Mike Tyson (59 years old) this April 26 to be held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa.

He is also scheduled for another exhibition match against Greece kickboxing champion Mike Zambidis this June 27, in Athens.

Pacquiao, 47, meanwhile, is coming off an impressive but losing fight against WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios last July 19, 2025, which ended in a majority draw.

For his tuneup fight versus Mayweather, Pacquiao is scheduled to meet his former sparring partner, Ruslan Provodnikov, also a former WBO junior welterweight champion, for a 10-rounds exhibition match on April 18 in Las Vegas.

Not the ‘GOAT’

Aside from flaunting the wealth he earned as a pugilist that he claimed was more than $1 billion, Mayweather loved to point to his 50-0 record as evidence that he is the ‘GOAT’ (greatest of all time) in the sport of boxing.

His self-promotion is frowned upon by other past greats like ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, the world’s youngest heavyweight and unified world champion.

In terms of divisions dominated, Mayweather is only a five-division world champion, compared the eight divisions conquered by Pacquiao, a record that many believed would take generations of boxers to break.