It didn’t take long for MP Promotions executive Jas Mathur to respond on social media to Floyd Mayweather’s confusing comments over the weekend in Las Vegas that his rematch with Manny Pacquiao is little more than a boxing exhibition.
It is a far cry from official wording from a statement Netflix sent to Boxing Social in February to confirm the fight.
“Mayweather and Pacquiao will meet in a professional rematch on Saturday, September 19, at The Sphere in Las Vegas,” the statement said.
Netflix was very specific that the match-up would see Mayweather “officially coming out of retirement” which would thus put his unbeaten 50-0 record on the line.
When Mayweather spoke to Vegas Sports Today, a prominent Las Vegas sports brand who were covering the Sebastian Fundora vs Keith Thurman event in the city, Floyd cast doubt on the above and said, instead, it would be an unofficial sparring match no different than his exhibitions against Logan Paul, or his upcoming one with Mike Tyson.
“This is not actually a fight,” the 48-year-old said, “it’s an exhibition.”
He also said the venue was far from a done deal, which would be no surprise to UFC boss Dana White, who said, in response to the announcement of the boxing event at The Sphere, that Mayweather and Pacquiao would require significant sponsorship to offset the runaway production costs — something he benefited from when Riyadh Season sponsored a UFC show at the state-of-the-art property, after White told Boxing Social he’d sunk $20 million into the graphic design and other imagery.
“The Sphere is one of the places that they talked about, so we don’t know if it’s 100% going to be there,” he said.
What remains a surprise, is Mayweather’s insistence it’s “an exhibition.”
And Jas Mathur, the executive behind MP Promotions, Manny Pacquiao’s fight firm, appeared unfazed when responding on social media. “Men lie, women lie, executed binding agreements don’t,” he said.
Though there is a clear disagreement over what this fight will actually be, all parties seem on the same page when it comes to doing “it again and hopefully entertaining the people,” Mayweather said.
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