Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao made boxing history in 2015. More than a decade later, the two legends are hoping to do it again.
The aging greats will have their rematch Sept. 19 live on Netflix in the first boxing match held at the Las Vegas Sphere.
Mayweather defeated Pacquiao by unanimous decision on May 2, 2015 in the “Fight of the Century” at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. That fight generated 4.6 million pay-per-view buys and a live gate of $72 million, both of which are records.
It was a long-awaited matchup between two of the biggest names in the boxing world that ultimately earned Mayweather the World Boxing Council, World Boxing Assn. and World Boxing Organization welterweight titles.
“I already fought and beat Manny once,” Mayweather said in a statement released by Netflix. “This time will be the same result.”
The backdrop to this bout is a bit different. Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs) will be 49 on Tuesday. He has retired and unretired multiple times but has not fought in a bout that counts since his 10-round technical knockout of UFC star Conor McGregor in 2017.
Although he still has an exhibition against Mike Tyson coming up this spring, Mayweather announced last week he is resuming his professional career.
Pacquiao, 47, is 62-9-2 (39 KOs) and fought for a belt last July, losing by majority draw to then-WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios in an attempt to break his own record for oldest welterweight champion. Pacquiao was 40 when he defeated Keith Thurman for the title in 2019.
Pacquiao recently announced a a 10-round welterweight exhibition against former junior welterweight world champion Ruslan Provodnikov on April 18 at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“Floyd and I gave the world what remains the biggest fight in boxing history,” Pacquiao said in a statement by Netflix. “The fans have waited long enough — they deserve this rematch, and it will be even bigger now that it will be streamed live globally on Netflix. I want Floyd to live with the one loss on his professional record and always remember who gave it to him.”
It will be the American’s first professional fight since beating mixed martial arts fight Conor McGregor with a 10th-round technical knockout in 2017.
Eight-weight world champion Pacquiao retired from the sport to focus on his political career in 2021 but returned to the ring last July to fight WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios, who retained his title after a draw.
Mayweather and Pacquiao first met in 2015, in what was billed as the ‘Fight of the Century’.
It was Mayweather who emerged victorious, beating Pacquiao via a wide unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao said: “Floyd and I gave the world what remains the biggest fight in boxing history.
“The fans have waited long enough. They deserve this rematch.
“I want Floyd to live with the one loss on his professional record and always remember who gave it to him.”
Mayweather said: “I already fought and beat Manny once. This time will be the same result.”
MINNEAPOLIS — The sites of the three consequential deaths span just over two miles of south Minneapolis. George Floyd in 2020, Renee Good and Alex Pretti last month.
The death of Floyd, after a police officer dug a knee into his neck for more than nine minutes, was a catalyst for the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests that sought law enforcement reforms and accountability.
Those of Good and Pretti, shot by federal immigration agents, have similarly sparked demands that federal agents to stop using violence in pursuit of President Trump’s mass deportation effort.
The sites are close enough to walk in an hour. So, on Sunday, I did.
Mementos, drawings, signs and flowers are covered by fresh snow outside of Unity Foods where George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis.
George Floyd
Floyd was killed just outside of Cup Foods, since renamed Unity Foods. On a wall outside the convenience store, Esther Osayande’s painting “Sankofa” depicts a bird with its head turned back, surrounded by flames.
The description says it is a metaphorical symbol used by the Akan people of Ghana to express “the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present.”
“Sankofa tells us that we as a people can rise above conflicts of ego and treat all beings we meet as brothers and sisters,” it states.
On the same wall, someone spray painted, “My cries are 4 humanity.”
The memorial, known locally as George Floyd Square, encompasses a nearby covered bus stop, where a visitor had written that “race is a made up idea to keep ppl down.” Against the shelter glass, someone had taped a typed notice of emergency. It lists “martyrs” killed by authorities — Good, Floyd, Philando Castile and others before them.
“This ICE operation is somehow simpler AND more malicious than the kill count accumulated by our PD,” the notice reads. “This is slave catching. This is gestapo.”
A memorial to Renee Good at the location where she was shot in Minneapolis.
Nearly six years after Floyd’s death, some of the memorial art has begun to fade under the sun. A metal archway gives way to a plastic A-frame board describing Floyd and the global movement that his murder inspired.
“George’s name has become a rallying cry for those who believe in a better future, one where all people are treated with dignity and respect,” it reads.
Few people gathered at the memorial Sunday morning, but real and fake flowers, blanketed by snow, covered the site. A family with children got out of an SUV and walked around. A young photographer snapped some shots. And a couple took their time weaving through the makeshift garden.
Floyd’s cousin Paris Stevens is co-chair of Rise and Remember, which preserves the memorial and leads tours of the area. She said the organization wanted to give the community a safe space to grieve, “because everybody has lost someone.”
The thread linking the deaths of her cousin, Good and Pretti, Stevens said, is that they all could have been prevented. The fact that people have begun to visit all three sites is a sign of how unjust killings bring out the humanity in people, she said.
“How do we care for one another in times of need?” she asked. The answer, in part, is found in the artwork, writings and flowers at the three memorials.
“For this to happen, it’s like we’re picking up the ball and running again,” she said. “We’ve been here before and we know what to do.”
A memorial for Renee Good marks the location the 37-year-old woman was shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Portland Avenue near East 34th Street in Minneapolis.
Renee Good
Portland Avenue, where Good died less than a mile from Floyd, is lined with Craftsman-style homes. Many displayed “ICE OUT” or “Black Lives Matter” signs — or both — in their front windows.
One window posed a question: “How many weren’t filmed?”
Stapled to a telephone pole was a letter addressed to federal agents: “It might be hard to understand why almost all Our City’s residents are angry with Your Mission (which has changed radically over the past year). This handbill intends to resolve confusion. I hope it finds you well.”
Another telephone pole struck a different tone:
“ICE ARE TERRORISTS KIDNAPPERS MURDERERS.”
On a wooden fence, Good’s portrait accompanied those of Floyd and other Black men killed by police in Minnesota in recent years, among them Daunte Wright, Winston Boogie Smith Jr. and Amir Locke.
A handwritten sign quoted Good’s last words: “I’m not mad at you, dude.”
Keeping snow off of Good’s memorial — not far from where George Floyd was killed — has been a losing battle.
In the center of Good’s memorial, a man gingerly brushed snow from cardboard signs, shook out bouquets of flowers and wiped off teddy bears. It was a losing battle. Snow was falling, leaving fresh white dots on everything he cleared.
A woman walked up with a handful of yellow tulips. “Hello, is there somewhere I should put these in particular?”
“Anywhere is fine,” said the man.
American, Mexican and LGBTQ+ flags hung from the site. One handwritten note, signed by “A DHS employee,” stated: “We will never forget you.”
A sign hangs between two trees near the Good memorial and reads, “The resistance is rooted in love — ICE out!”
Some mourners had shared small tokens of positivity. “Please take a pocket heart,” read one laminated sign. “Keep it with you to be a constant reminder that you are loved!”
Others, knowing Good had been a poet, wrote poems of their own:
Towards new ages imagined yet still out of hand
We’ll build a place safe for us all where you stood
Where love’s lyrics echo we’ll compose what we can
To that I offer these words, would they were as good as
Good’s.
Among the couple dozen people at the site were Kayla Gardner, 29, and three friends. Gardner said she had brought flowers to place at each of the three memorials.
“I wanted to get to Renee and Alex’s,” she said, “but we didn’t want to leave out George, too. He’s right here.”
A memorial for intensive care nurse Alex Pretti.
Alex Pretti
On a traffic pole down the street, above a “Lost Cat” sign, a note in Spanish warns residents of increased immigration police presence since Dec. 22. It advises residents not to leave their homes unless necessary, to have groceries delivered and to establish an emergency plan for their children.
“These are difficult and uncertain moments for our community,” it says.
Lake Street, a hub of Latino businesses, is about halfway between where Good and Pretti were killed. Murals on side streets depict women cooking tortillas on a comal and musicians playing guitar and accordion. Businesses there have responded to the immigration raids in a variety of ways.
A notice in Spanish posted on the door of a western wear shop says, “Closed for the security of our clients.”
A nearby Ecuadorean restaurant, meanwhile, offers delivery but not sit-down service.
A person wipes tears away while visiting the Pretti memorial on Feb. 1.
Pretti died near Glam Doll Donuts, along another vibrant stretch of diverse, immigrant-owned restaurants known as Eat Street. As the days went on after his killing, fewer news cameras turned up, but mourners kept coming.
Standing over the memorial that has grown to take up the length of a building, a man in a The North Face jacket sobbed quietly. Another lighted incense sticks and stuck them in the snow.
Votive candles depicted Jesus, the Virgin of Gudalupe and Mister Rogers.
Candles burn near the Pretti memorial. Some depicted Jesus, the Virgin of Guadalupe and Mister Rogers.
A letter offers a source of comfort: “If I have two rooms, one dark, the other light, and I open the door between them, the dark room becomes lighter without the light one becoming darker. I know this is no headline, but it’s a marvelous footnote.”
Also on display were lyrics from Bruce Springsteen’s new protest song, “Streets of Minneapolis,” which call out White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Home Security Secretary Kristi Noem:
It’s our blood + our bones
And these whistles + phones
Against Miller +
Noem’s Dirty Lies.
New artwork appears daily. An oil painting depicting a smiling Pretti in glasses, a beanie and a scarf, was among the most recent.
Leah Dunbar, 50, was moved to tears looking at it. Dunbar, who lives nearby, had brought Somali chicken sambusas for fellow mourners standing in the cold.
The George Floyd memorial marks the spot at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue where he was killed in 2020 at age 46.
Reflecting on his death, she had asked herself, “What is the good that is coming out of this? Do we have space in our lives to see the good?”
“Of course we do,” she said. “Look — people are making, people are creating, people are sharing.”
Floyd Mayweather Jr., one of history’s most successful professional boxers, is suing Showtime and a former executive at the company for $340 million, accusing them of depriving him of a “significant portion of his career earnings.”
The 48-year-old retired athlete alleges in the complaint that Showtime “through a complex web of hidden accounts, unauthorized transactions, and deliberate concealment of financial records,” wrongly paid some of his earnings to his former manager, Al Haymon.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, is aimed at the Paramount-owned network and its former president of Showtime Sports, Stephen Espinoza. The complaint alleges that Mayweather’s inquiries about his pay were met with conflicting responses from Showtime, including that “critical financial records for Mayweather’s biggest fights were ‘lost’ or inaccessible.”
Haymon is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for Paramount wrote in a statement to The Times that “these baseless claims lack legal or factual merit. We strongly reject them and will respond accordingly through the court process.”
A spokesperson for Haymon Boxing declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Over Mayweather’s 21-year career, the boxer has reportedly earned $1.2 billion. He first met his former manager, Haymon, in 2004. The boxer soon entered a verbal agreement with Haymon, allowing him to be Mayweather’s manager for a 10% fee. According to the suit, Mayweather considered Haymon to be a “father figure and relied on him to manage virtually all aspects of his finances and contracts.” Haymon worked in this role for about 20 years, and over time, the suit alleges, he became the “mastermind of the financial scheme,” engaging in “financial manipulation and self-dealing behind Mayweather’s back.”
In 2013, Mayweather exited a long-term contract with HBO to ink a new exclusive multi-fight deal with Showtime. The complaint states that Haymon’s “scheme” consisted of “diverting portions” of Mayweather’s earnings “under false pretenses that Haymon then kept or controlled,” putting fight revenues into “secret accounts that Mayweather did not know about or have access to,” paying himself large sums of money without Mayweather‘s knowledge and allegedly altering documents to cover up these actions.
Mayweather’s new team reached out to Showtime in 2024 for documentation of fight revenues and expenses. According to the lawsuit, his team was told the documents were “‘lost in a flood’ or stored off-site and not readily accessible.”
Mayweather also alleges Showtime still owes him $20 million from his 2015 fight against Andre Berto. The payout was originally meant to come from the proceeds of the Manny Pacquiao fight that year.
The lawsuit contends that by wiring Mayweather’s earnings to accounts inaccessible tothe boxer and saying that key documents are missing, both “Showtime and Espinoza enabled Haymon’s scheme and stymied Mayweather’s efforts to uncover the truth.”
