By CASSANDRA COUSINEAU
LVSportsBiz.com
In early May it will be four years since Manny Pacquiao met up with Floyd Mayweather in the money grab boxing match known as the hash-tagged MayPac at MGM Grand Garden Arena on the Strip.
Following Mayweather’s unanimous 12-round decision over Pacquiao May 2, 2015, both fighters embarked on entirely different career trajectories in the boxing world. It’s their choices outside of the ring that may eventually lead two of the most decorated welterweights in boxing history right back to Las Vegas.
It all starts Saturday when Pacquaio returns to the MGM Grand Garden where his 70th professional career fight will be against Mayweather-promoted protégé Adrien Broner. It’s a match in which the 40-year-old Pacquaio is favored over the 29-year-old Broner.
Aftert the #MayPac event, Manny focused on his Senatorial duties back in the Philippines, while managing to go 3-1 in the ring with wins against Timothy Bradley, Jessie Vargas and, most recently, a sensational TKO against Lucas Matthyssee. His post Mayweather record has just one blemish- a suspect unanimous decision loss to Jeff Horn in Australia.
Meanwhile Mayweather followed up his Pacquiao fight with win number 49 in a mundane match against Andre Berto.
Then came another spectacle event with UFC fighter-turned-professional boxer for one night, Conor McGregor. The August 16, 2018, bout was the second highest (behind #MayPac) North American PPV ever with 4.3 million buys, with another half-billion dollars in revenue.
And then Mayweather descended to the absurd recently, with the soon-to-be 42-year-old boxer participating in a farcical exhibition against a 125-pound Japanese kickboxer by the name of Tenshin Nasukawa.
Talk about two very different career paths after the so-called Mayweather-Pacquiao fight of the century.
In mid-September 2018, Mayweather and Pacquiao were face-to-face in a Tokyo nightclub. After which, Mayweather announced on social media that he was coming out of retirement again and would fight Pacquiao in December. More talk but no action. The December fight didn’t happen.
Both Pacquaio and Mayweather have had brushes with various financial debts since the historical event. The senator hasn’t fought in the United States since the Mayweather clash predominately due to an eight-figure debt to the IRS. He recently said, “We’re working on this.” The WBA champion also had to fend off a class-action lawsuit brought by fans upset that he didn’t disclose a shoulder injury before his May 2015 bout with the undefeated Mayweather.
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Meanwhile over at the Mayweather camp, in Nov. 2018 Mayweather was wrapped up in an SEC case for “unlawfully touting” initial coin offerings. He eventually agreed to a settlement of $750,000 for failing to disclose payments accepted from issuers of initial coin offerings, including a personal $100,000 promotional payment from fraught cryptocurrency firm Centra Tech Inc.
Mayweather is 50-0 (there’s a TMT sign saying so off Interstate 15), while Pacquiao has earned titles in eight weight divisions. For more than 20 years these two have moved the needle in boxing.
Yet their careers are inextricably linked. And to this day, these two just can’t quit each other.
They generate too much revenue via boxing to ignore another opportunity to cash in. Inevitably, they will collide once more — the Manny and Floyd Show will replay itself for a PPV audience out there one day.