Mayweather-Pacquiao rematch postponed indefinitely

A highly anticipated rematch between boxing legends Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has been postponed indefinitely, Pacquiao’s camp in the Philippines said on Friday.

The news followed ESPN reporting that a planned Mayweather exhibition in Greece had been called off after an events company connected to the Pacquiao bout had sought an injunction.

The two Hall of Famers, whose 2015 bout drove 4.6 million pay-per-view buys, have been at loggerheads since Mayweather stunned the boxing world by declaring a rematch announced by Netflix for September would only be an exhibition — something bitterly contested by Pacquiao.

On Friday, the Pacquiao camp released a statement blaming the postponement on “a volatile mix of federal lawsuits, scheduling overbooks, and financial gridlock completely surrounding the Mayweather camp”.

Events company CSI sued Mayweather last week, seeking to recover at least $4.65 million, the company says it paid the fighter for exclusive rights to promote the Pacquiao rematch and an exhibition bout with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson that failed to materialise.

Friday’s statement said the earliest a Pacquiao-Mayweather fight could now take place would be early 2027.

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“Should Mayweather and CSI settle their internal contract disputes out of court, promoters will immediately pivot to rescheduling a postponed exhibition between Mayweather and Mike Tyson, tentatively targeting September 12,” the Pacquiao team statement said.

Mayweather, 49, retired from boxing in 2017 with a perfect 50-0 record.

He was to have fought an exhibition against Greek kickboxing star Mike Zambidis on Saturday in a pay-per-view event to be held at the Telekon Centre at the OAKA Olympic Complex in Athens.

The now-shelved Pacquiao bout would have rematched the fighters in the top money-spinner in boxing history.

AFP

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