We’re only a couple of days into the year, but boxing fans have what could be one of the biggest exhibition fights in the history of the sport already locked in for 2024. More than eight years after their last meeting, Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather 2 has been announced by the Japanese MMA promotion RIZIN, to the delight of the combat sports world.
During a New Year’s Eve event at the Saitama Super Arena, the RIZIN boss Nobuyiki Sakakibara (formerly the boss of PRIDE) brought Pacquiao up onto the stage to announce a rematch bout with Mayweather “next year”.
CEO Sakakibara: "Could you please fight against Floyd Mayweather?"
Manny Pacquiao: "I'm ready."
📡 Watch on @FITEtv !🔻https://t.co/eEpfmslhPp pic.twitter.com/gwod6x8wKm— RIZIN FF English (@rizin_English) December 31, 2023
“Next year, I hope to see you here in Japan with a big fight against…,” Pacquiao glanced at Nobuyiki Sakakibara.
“Floyd Mayweather,” Sakakibara grinned.
“I thought that you didn’t want me to say that,” Pacquiao laughed.
Pacquiao signed a contract with RIZIN at the end of 2022 to fight an exhibition boxing match in Japan, but the fight never happened and it looks like Phillipino boxer will stay signed with the promotion for 2024.
There’s some speculation as to whether or not the fight will be a proper bout or simply an exhibition match. However, given Mayweather’s refusal to do anything that might damage his 50-0 record (ruining the sport of boxing in the process), and the combined age of the two athletes at 91 years, it seems unlikely that it will be anything other than an exhibition fight.
Mayweather has already fought twice under the RIZIN promotion. Once against the kickboxing star Tenshin Nasukawa in 2018, and the second time against the mixed martial artist Mikuru Asukura in 2022.
Even if Manny Pacquiao vs Floyd Mayweather 2 won’t damage Mayweather’s record, here’s hoping Pacquiao evens the score after losing the original bout back in 2015.
