MANILA, Philippines — The rematch between Filipino boxing great and undefeated American Floyd Mayweather Jr. on September 19 to be streamed live worldwide by Netflix is a legitimate professional bout and not an exhibition.
Jas Mathur, CEO of Pacquiao's MP Promotions, made that clarification in response to Mayweather's claim last weekend that the fight is just an exhibition.
Mayweather (50-0) added that The Sphere in Las Vegas, which serves as the venue for the fight isn't even finalized.
Ring Magazine's Mike Coppinger reported Mathur's response to Mayweather's claims on Tuesday.
"Spoke to MP Promotions CEO Jas Mathur, who confirmed Floyd Mayweather & Manny Pacquiao are contracted to meet in an official fight at The Sphere," wrote Coppinger in an X post.
"Floyd claimed over the weekend it’s an exhibition with the venue TBD (to be determined). Mathur said Manny isn’t interested in an exhibition. "
Mathur's response to Mayweather Jr. aligns with what Pacquiao (62-8-3) said in an interview with Sports Center late February.
“Before, he (Mayweather) wanted an exhibition with me, but I disagreed. I didn’t want to fight an exhibition. I want a real fight like this. This is what I’ve been waiting for.”
Pacquiao and Mayweather last fought in 2015 with the latter winning via unanimous decision.
Attempts for a rematch failed and both fighters ended up retiring and unretiring to make a follow-up to their mega bout happen.
Pacquiao retired in 2021 following a loss to Yordenis Ugas but came out of retirement to battle Mario Barrios to a draw in July last year.
The world's only 8-division champ will reportedly face former world champ Ruslan Provodnikov on April 18 in Las Vegas in an exhibition first before taking on Mayweather anew.
Mayweather will also have one more exhibition bout, fighting former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson on April 25.
Mayweather last fought professionally in 2017, scoring a 10th round knockout of Conor McGregor.