Pacquiao and Mayweather rematch may happen late this year.
Social media went into a frenzy as Floyd Mayweather announced on his Instagram account that he would be coming out of retirement for a rematch with Manny Pacquiao.
It was easy to shrug off the news, but then Pacquiao responded on his Instagram with a post of his own and fuelling the talks of a potential rematch.
As it turns out, the Instagram ping pong could actually turn out to be an actual announcement of the rematch.
According to Senior Ring Magazine writer Mike Coppinger, the rematch is already in the advanced stage of negotiations, with the fight being planned for Las Vegas on December 1 or December 8 as target dates.
In his first interview since the Instagram interaction with Mayweather, Pacquiao basically confirmed that the fight is happening.
“Well, he’s announcing his comeback from retirement, so he wants to fight, he challenged me, he wants [to] get my belt.”
Mayweather has mostly been retired since late-2015, returning to action last year for a big money super-fight with UFC star Connor McGregor.
Pacquiao on the other hand, has remained active, save for a brief eight-month retirement period in 2016. Last July, Pacquiao captured his eleventh-world championship by defeating Lucas Matthysse for the WBA Welter- weight World Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Pacquiao himself confirmed that he and Mayweather are indeed in negotiation-mode, without giving away too much information.
“Right now, we’re in the middle of negotiations, hoping to finalize that.” Pacquiao shared with Dyan Castillejo of ABS-CBN News. “Sa ngayon, pag-uusapan pa yung negotiations, we’re in the middle of negotiations, so hindi pa natin masabi kung kailan or kung ano yung exact date.”
“I’m always available. I’m always available for him.” Pacquiao added.