Manny Pacquiao’s slated September fight with Floyd Mayweather won’t be an exhibition, the Philippine boxing star said on Thursday, days after his fellow hall of famer claimed their match would be purely entertainment.
Netflix announced the long-rumored rematch of boxing’s highest-grossing bout last month, with Pacquiao and Mayweather — whose current ages are in their late forties — to meet at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 19.
But Mayweather stunned the boxing world this week by proposing that the rivals, whose 2015 showdown delivered 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, would be entering the squared circle just for fun if they do square off this time around.
“It’s an exhibition so we’re both winners,” Mayweather said in an interview. “We just want to go out there and put on a show for the people, entertain the people.”
Pacquiao begged to differ on Friday.
“I want to be crystal clear, the contract we signed is for a professional boxing match. This is not a show, this is real fight,” he said.
I wanted to get rid of any discrepancies about my fight with Floyd Mayweather. From day one, my mind has been on delivering what the fans actually want to see. A high-level, competitive sanctioned fight,” he added.
He said Netflix’s February announcement regarding the rematch had “reflected the exact terms of our agreement,” and that his team anticipated “the original terms of the agreement to be honored.”
Then on Wednesday, Jas Mathur, chief executive officer of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, blasted Mayweather’s comments in an interview and insisted that the fight would occur.
“Floyd Mayweather is hereby in breach of his contract,” he told the U.S.-based sports outlet.