Following the official announcement of a rematch between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao, Mayweather’s uncle admitted he believes the fight reflects a “sad” state of affairs in boxing.
Last night, the world of boxing was left shocked by the unveiling of Mayweather’s rematch with Pacquiao, 11 years after the pair initially met in a clash for three of the four welterweight world titles.
First, Mayweather is set to take on heavyweight icon Mike Tyson in another exhibition bout on Saturday, April 25, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but his meeting with Pacquiao will be a professional one and will thus impact his flawless 50-0 record in one way or another.
Speaking to FightHype following the fight announcement, Jeff Mayweather — who trained Floyd in the late 1990s — said boxing is in a “sad” state, with the sport relying on former stars to return and revive it.
“It is kind of sad to me, that these two guys have to come back for it to be one of the biggest fights again. With all of these great new champion that are out here, there should be some big fights but Manny and Floyd are bigger than anybody else. That is why it is happening.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say that is the fighters’ fault, that is not the fighters’ job – that is the promoters’ job, that is what promotion is. So, if you don’t have a promoter that is promoting you in the right way to make you loved and accepted by your fans, then they are not doing the right thing by you.”
As for the fight itself, Jeff Mayweather predicted a repeat victory for the 49-year-old, believing that ‘PacMan’ has severely declined.
“I think that the fight is probably going to be pretty much the same [as last time], but both of them are not the same fighters that they once was. The name are the same, but the fighters, they are not.
“They have both aged and, I’m going to be honest, the last fight with Pacquiao, when he fought Barrios, that fight looked like crap to me. He looked like crap. Even though the fight was close, and I understand that the fight was close, the greatness of Pacquiao was gone. I didn’t see it, I didn’t even see an inkling of it.”
