Mayweather Contradicts Key Details Surrounding Pacquiao Fight Plans

The second fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao is starting to look a little fishy.

Speaking at a meet-and-greet at the MCM store inside Caesar’s Palace on Saturday, Mayweather contradicted several initially announced details of his second fight with Pacquiao, including the fight’s venue being the Sphere in Las Vegas.

“As of right now, we don’t know exactly where the fight is going to be at,” Mayweather said. “We don’t know the location of the fight. The Sphere is one of the places that they talked about, so we don’t know if it’s 100% going to be there.”

Last month, Netflix announced that Mayweather vs. Pacquiao II would take place at the Sphere on Sept. 19, calling it “the first boxing match ever held at the groundbreaking venue.” The announcement also suggested that the fight would be an “official” rematch between the two veteran fighters, 11 years after their original meeting.

Mayweather walked back any notion that it would be an official fight.

“This is not actually a fight, it’s an exhibition,” Mayweather said. “So we’re going to do it again and hopefully we’re going to entertain the people.” 

Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CSI Sports/Fight Sports, which is promoting the fight alongside Mayweather Promotions, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this year, Mayweather, alongside CSI Sports/Fight Sports, announced that he would officially return to the ring in the summer.

“I still have what it takes to set more records in the sport of boxing—from my upcoming Mike Tyson event to my next professional fight afterwards—no one will generate a bigger gate, have a larger global broadcast audience and generate more money with each event—then my events. And I plan to keep doing it with my global media partner, CSI Sports/Fight Sports,” Mayweather said in a statement last month.

This is not the first Mayweather fight with dubious information. 

Mayweather is scheduled to have an exhibition fight with Mike Tyson, originally scheduled for April 25 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, boxing journalist Dan Rafael reported earlier this month that the exhibition will be moved to a later date and may not be in Congo at all.

Mayweather’s last official fight was in 2017, after which he retired with a 50–0 record. He’s returned to boxing in recent years through exhibition fights, including against Logan Paul in 2021.