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Following his decisive victory over Conor McGregor in August 2017 former ‘pound for pound’ champ Floyd Mayweather insisted that he was really going to retire this time. It made sense—he was finally starting to show some effects of age and he had his long sought after 50th victory in the bag. He also had a ridiculous amount of money in the bank and nothing else to prove to the boxing world.
Just over a year later, things have changed. On Saturday, September 15 sports fans awoke to learn that Mayweather had announced via his Instagram account that he was coming out of retirement yet again, this time for a rematch against Manny Pacquiao. No other details are known though Mayweather indicated that the bout would be ‘this year’ which would suggest a December fight date.
In advance of what will likely be huge betting interest on the fight BetOnline.ag has posted the first odds on Mayweather/Pacquiao 2. BetOnline has opened with Mayweather a -250 favorite to stay undefeated and run his career record to 51-0 with another victory over Pacquiao. Takeback on Pacquiao is +210. These odds will be valid if the fight takes place by December 31, 2018.
Mayweather has a track record of floating ‘trial balloons’ to the media to gauge their viability. He was involved in the promotion of an ersatz ‘fight’ between entertainers Chris Brown and Soulja Boy and made the media rounds. When the interest in the fight failed to materialize he dropped it like a hot potato. More recently, Mayweather has been talking about training for a rematch against Conor McGregor under UFC rules. That talk didn’t last long either though it may have had as much to do with McGregor returning to the UFC to face Khabib Nurmagomedov on October 6 as a loss of interest by Mayweather.
Even with Mayweather’s penchant for making announcements to judge public opinion and interest, this is surprising. In the past, Mayweather hasn’t suggested that a return to boxing would be forthcoming. He’s very proud of his 50-0 career mark and has previously shown little indication that he would be putting that at risk. He’s also dismissed talk of a Pacquiao rematch in the past due to the Filipino superstar’s lackluster showing in the first fight between the two men. Mayweather beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision in May 2015. After the fight, Pacquiao claimed that he had a shoulder injury that left him severely limited. Could this have explained his listless performance in which he landed only 81 punches to 148 for Mayweather?
Maybe, but Pacquiao isn’t the free throwing dervish that he was earlier in his career and has dramatically improved his boxing fundamentals via his longtime association with former trainer Freddy Roach. An injury might explain his low connect percentage but he’s not the first opponent to have trouble finding the elusive Mayweather who is on a very short list of the greatest defensive boxers in history.
