Manny Pacquiao, from the Philippines, left, and Floyd Mayweather Jr., embrace in the ring at the finish of their welterweight title fight on Saturday, May 2, 2015 in Las Vegas. AP
Recent turn of events involving camps of Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. could lead to potential rematch between the two boxing legends.
Pacquiao and Mayweather are both retired but remain as two of the biggest stars in the sport and a second bout would still generate a lot of interest and money.
Shortly after his unanimous decision win over Timothy Bradley last month, Pacquiao said his heart is still 50-50 on retirement while his Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach and his longtime promoter Bob Arum have also left their doors open for the eight-division champion’s possible ring return.
Recently, Mayweather, who hung up his gloves after a lopsided victory over an overmatched opponent in Andre Berto, told Showtime that he would consider coming back for a fight with a nine-figure payday. His company, Mayweather Promotions, also fielded trademarks on “TMT 50” and “TBE 50” last week as per ESPN.
Mayweather shares Rocky Marciano’s record of 49 wins without a loss.
The latest development? Chris Mannix of Yahoo! Sports’ The Vertical said Top Rank, who promotes Pacquiao, and Al Haymon, who manages Mayweather, are “moving toward a settlement” over their lawsuit and could pave way for a rematch.
“Top Rank attorneys have instructed promoters involved with the $100 million lawsuit Top Rank filed last year against powerful boxing manager Al Haymon to halt requested document production, and scheduled depositions have been postponed indefinitely, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports – strong indications the two sides are moving toward a settlement,” Mannix wrote.
The lawsuit, according to Mannix, argues that Premier Boxing Champions, a television boxing series under Haymon, “is monopolistic, violates federal antitrust laws and the federal Muhammad Ali Boxing Reform Act.”
According to the report, depositions and document production have been indefinitely postponed.
“Details of any settlement talks are unknown, but multiple people involved in the lawsuit told Yahoo Sports of one possible outcome of a settlement: a rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao. Boxing’s biggest stars fought last May in a fight that generated 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and generated $500 million in total revenue,” Mannix said.
The move irons out a potential problem should negotiations for a second bout surface.