When Manny Pacquiao defeated American Jessie Vargas to wrest the WBO welterweight championship on November 5 after a brief retirement, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was actually watching at ringside.
In fact, there were a couple of times during the fight itself that the Filipino boxing icon actually acknowledged Floyd Mayweather Jr through a smile or a nod of the eyebrow.
Mayweather has already retired from the sport months ahead of Pacquiao after defeating Andre Berto in September 2015 and scored his 49th win. His 48th win came via a unanimous decision over Pacquiao in May 2015 in what is regarded as the richest boxing match in history.
While at least three names were thrown into the mix as possible next opponent for Pacquiao including WBC welterweight champion Terence Crawford, who also watched the Pacquiao-Vargas match at ringside, former WBC welterweight titleholder Danny Garcia, and WBA welterweight champion Keith Thurman, there is no substitute to fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr again than any of the three possible prospects combined.
Making his intentions clear
It seems that Pacquiao has made his intentions clear that he wants a rematch with Money when he recently showed a specially-tailored jacket on his Instagram account.
In the picture, the eight-division world boxing champion showed the insides of the jacket’s right breast showing Floyd Mayweather Jr., while the left side showing himself.
Both images appear to be sewn into the lining of the customized jacket. Less than three hours after posting the image on the morning of November 14, Pacquiao’s Instagram post has already generated over 50,000 likes, reports the Daily Mail of UK.
He captioned his post by asking the question if people like his jacket, which is also a clear reference for if people like to have a Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch.
During their May 2015 fight, Mayweather won over Pacquiao via unanimous decision but it got a bit tainted when the Filipino boxing icon claimed that he suffered a shoulder injury just before the fight with Money. He underwent operations after their match.
A 75% chance of happening
As far as Top Rank chief Bob Arum is concerned, he believes that there is a 75% chance that the rematch between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao could happen.
In a recent interview, Arum said that he does not really know if the rematch is going to happen or if Floyd Mayweather Jr. still wants to fight after retiring from the sport more than a year ago.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. has also said recently that he could be tempted to return to the ring and boxing aficionados all over the world think that there is no other greater vehicle for a comeback fight than the rematch with Pacquiao.
Arum said that he is like others who are guessing and hoping that there could be a rematch so he is giving the fight a 75% chance of happening especially after seeing Mayweather coming to the Pacquiao-Vargas fight, details the Mirror of UK.
The multi-million dollar Mayweather-Pacquiao fight last year followed years of tense negotiations. Arum believes the path to a rematch is not fraught with the same danger.
He said that it was so tense last time, but it won’t be that way for the rematch because everyone can get along.
Arum also pointed out that Floyd Jr. came to the fight and he was very friendly with Top Rank president Todd duBoef and some of the promotions staff.
He added however that it doesn’t mean that the fight will happen, but if it does, it won’t take a long time to make because the animosity in both camps that was there before the first fight is gone.