Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather had talked every now and then about a rematch but the Filipino fighting icon was adamant about one thing, even if it was in stark disagreement with one of his old rival’s requests.
The Hall-of-Fame boxers broke the internet this week when Netflix dropped a bombshell announcement to confirm they’d compete in a professionally sanctioned bout on Sept. 19 at The Sphere in Las Vegas.
The sequel arrives 11 years after the original which, itself, was a product of protracted negotiations that took approximately seven years to actually get over the line, with Mayweather figuring Pacquiao out through his technical finesse and ring smarts.
As the fight remains the best-selling pay-per-view in boxing history, and featured two of the most cherished athletes in the sport’s modern history, a do-over has long been mooted and Pacquiao told Sports Center on Tuesday that he’s “so excited for the fight.”
He said: “It just happened that I’m still active in boxing and he came out of retirement and he decided to do it again.”
Through the years, Pacquiao excused the defeat on a combination of a shoulder injury and his opponent’s apparent unwillingness to engage. “I learned a lot from that fight in 2015,” he said on the channel.
“I think we become mature right now, and how to handle [the fight],” he added. “I hope if it happened again the way it is in 2015, the experience is 100%. I’m hoping for this time around no more excuses. Especially to my conditioning and everything. I’m ready for the fight.”
Mayweather and Pacquiao have a combined age of 95, and 112 fights. They have some of the more enduring records in boxing, with Floyd’s unbeaten streak, and Manny’s world title wins across a staggering eight divisions.
When Mayweather announced a return to the ring, for an exhibition alongside Mike Tyson, and a real fight in which he’d put his undefeated status on the line, there was only ever one boxer that made sense for him to fight — Pacquiao.
But Pacquiao told Sports Center that Mayweather had one demand that he disagreed with.
“Before, he wanted an exhibition,” Pacquiao said. “But I disagree.”
“I wanted to fight a real fight like this.”
Watch Pacquiao’s appearance on Sports Center right here:
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