Manny Pacquiao disposed off Jessie Vargas to win the WBO welterweight title on his return to the ring after the retirement which lasted less than seven months and now he alongside his Top Rank has set their sights on Floyd Mayweather rematch which is a “75%” possibility according to Bob Arum. Mayweather was at the ringside during Pacquiao vs Vargas showdown and the rematch talk was inevitable.
Floyd Mayweather with his unbeaten 49-0 record announced retirement after beating Andre Berto back in September 2015 but another big money showdown against Pacquiao might lure him back in the ring. As the things stand any talks of the fight between two camps are yet to begin but with Mayweather already done with his lucrative showtime deal he is not bind by any means if he were to take another fight which means the negotiations might well be easier this time around. Unlike the first fight, for the rematch only one network will have full coverage and that is likely to be Showtime as HBO ditched Pacquaio’s recent fight and its hard to see Bob Arum dealing with HBO for Pacquiao fight again.
Last fight between the two made history as far as the financial numbers were concerned. It became the most lucrative fight in boxing history with 4.4 million PPV buys generating over $400 million in revenue plus of course the $72.19 million from gate receipts. Mayweather pocketed over $200 million while Pacquiao earned around $120 million from that fight. Its foolish to think the rematch will do anywhere near those numbers but even if half of these numbers are possible this will still be the second most lucrative fight in boxing history.
So what are the chances ? According to Arum there is a very good chance that fight will happen and the traditional first weekend of May 2017 is the possible date for the big fight which is possible to take place in Las Vegas. Below are some of the details.
| DETAILS | |
| Possible Dates: | Saturday, 06 May 2017 |
| Possible Venue: | MGM Grand, Las Vegas (Most probably). But venue in UAE can not be ruled out. |
| What network to broadcast ? | Showtime (highly likely to be the sole broadcaster of the fight in the US). We can pretty much rule out HBO from the race as they ditched Pacquiao’s recent fight and Bob Arum is highly unlikely to work with them for Pacquiao fight. |
