‘REMATCH IS REAL’: Pacquiao shuts down Mayweather exhibition claim

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

On March 31, 2026, Manny Pacquiao and his camp swiftly denied Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s claim that their upcoming rematch would be an exhibition.

The day after Mayweather’s statement, Jas Mathur, CEO of Manny Pacquiao (MP) Promotions, confirmed to Ring Magazine veteran boxing insider Mike Coppinger that both fighters are contractually obligated to an “official fight.”

Mathur added that the professional setting for the rematch is already stated in the official fight contract, which stipulates that both Pacquiao and Mayweather agreed to run it back on Feb. 24, 2026.

“That really puzzled me,” Coppinger said.

“Earlier this morning, I spoke to Jas Mathur, the CEO of MP Promotions. He said, it is absolutely a real fight, there’s a signed contract. Mayweather signed it.”

However, Mayweather said that he still doesn’t know any specifics about the fight, including the final venue, fight date, and contract clauses.

“As of right now, we don’t know exactly where the fight is going to be at,” said Mayweather.

“The Sphere is one of the places that they talked about. So, we don’t know if it’s a hundred percent going to be there. And this is not actually a fight, it’s an exhibition. We’re going to do it again and hopefully entertain the people.”

One thing is already for sure — multi-billion-dollar global streaming company Netflix will be broadcasting the fight, which it also promoted as a “professional rematch.”

Pacquiao is looking to avenge his unanimous decision loss to Mayweather in 2015, when the undefeated American unified the WBA, WBO, WBC, and The Ring welterweight belts.

Before arriving in Las Vegas, both fighters will have respective exhibition bouts, with Pacquiao squaring off against Russia’s Ruslan Provodnikov, while Mayweather is set to challenge Mike Tyson on April 25, 2026, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to honor the 52nd anniversary of the legendary “Rumble in the Jungle.”

“I’m not sure what Floyd is talking about,” added Coppinger.

“It’s in the contract. The result of the fight will reflect their pro records. It will be a breach of contract. Pacquiao has no interest in this if it’s going to be an exhibition.”