The Floyd Mayweather Jnr-Manny Pacquiao rematch is moving its date, too.
Two officials close to the negotiations told BoxingScene on Thursday night that the rematch of the most lucrative prizefight in history will take place on September 26 on Netflix.
BoxingScene reported last week that the fight pitting the now 49-year-old Mayweather, 50-0 (27 KOs), and 47-year-old Pacquiao, 62-8-3 (39 KOs), was moving away from The Sphere in Las Vegas, with that Madison Square Garden-owned arena filling the previously scheduled September 19 vacancy with an Eagles concert.
The officials who spoke to BoxingScene both said Thursday that they expect the rematch to land at MGM Grand, where the 2015 bout won by Mayweather by unanimous decision was staged.
MGM Grand is a favorite venue of Mayweather, and it’s where Pacquiao last year fought then-WBC welterweight titleholder Mario Barrios to a draw.
Mayweather fought at MGM Grand 12 consecutive times, from his 2007 victory over Oscar De La Hoya – in what then stood as the most successful pay-per-view fight of all time – to his 2015 victory over Andre Berto to close a six-fight contract with Showtime.
Mayweather has confronted reported financial issues over the past year. After telling reporters the bout might be an exhibition in March, an agreement to keep it a professional bout that will count as a win or loss on the record was struck.
One of the connected officials confirmed Thursday, “Both camps had agreed already on all the conditions.”
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
