Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao made boxing history in 2015.
More than a decade later, the two boxing legends are hoping to do it again.
The two will fight in a professional rematch Sept. 19. The event, which will be streamed live on Netflix, will be the first boxing match to be held at the Las Vegas Sphere.
The first time around, Mayweather defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision on May 2, 2015, in the so-called “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
“I already fought and beat Manny once,” Mayweather said in a statement released by Netflix. “This time will be the same result.”
That fight generated 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and a live gate of $72 million, both of which are still records.
It was a long-awaited matchup between two of the biggest names in the boxing world — 38-year-old Mayweather (47-0, 26 KO) and 36-year-old Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KO) — that ultimately earned Mayweather the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Assn. and World Boxing Organization welterweight titles.
The backdrop to this year’s bout is a bit different. Mayweather is now 50-0 (27 KO) and will be 49 on Tuesday. He has retired and unretired multiple times but has not fought in a bout that counts since his 10-round technical knockout of Conor McGregor in 2017.
Although he still has an exhibition fight against Mike Tyson coming up on a still-unannounced date this spring, Mayweather announced last week that he is resuming his professional fighting career.
Pacquiao, 47, is 62-9-2 (39 KO). In July, he lost by majority draw to WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios in an attempt to break his own record for oldest welterweight champion. He was 40 when he defeated Keith Thurman for the title in 2019.
Pacquiao recently announced a a 10-round welterweight exhibition against former junior welterweight world champion Ruslan Provodnikov on April 18 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“Floyd and I gave the world what remains the biggest fight in boxing history,” Pacquiao said in a statement released by Netflix. “The fans have waited long enough — they deserve this rematch, and it will be even bigger now that it will be streamed live globally on Netflix. I want Floyd to live with the one loss on his professional record and always remember who gave it to him.”
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