Manny Pacquiao has spoken out over the issues surrounding his planned rematch against Floyd Mayweather.
It was announced in February that long-term rivals Pacquiao and Mayweather were set for a second meeting, scheduled to take place at The Sphere in Las Vegas on September 19.
Their first battle was back in May 2015, which Mayweather won by unanimous decision in an underwhelming affair, though it was a massive commercial success and remains the highest grossing fight in the history of the sport.
While Pacquiao continued to compete professionally and has done as recently as last July, Mayweather retired in 2017. He has had a number of exhibitions since then, but the rematch against ‘PacMan’ would have served as his first official bout in nearly a decade.
Problems have begun to arose though, after Mayweather recently claimed the upcoming rematch would be an exhibition rather than a professional fight, and Pacquiao has now responded with his own take on the matter.
Speaking about the situation, Pacquiao told his rival to stop making excuses, and that he already turned down an opportunity for a rematch as an exhibition and wants a ‘real’ fight.
“He proposed an exhibition a long time ago, a year after our first fight. I didn’t agree to it.
I want a real fight. He signed a real fight, I signed a real fight, he’s got his advance, so there’s no reason to make excuses.”
Mayweather has been accused of being in breach of contract due to his comments, so it is expected that it will need to be cleared up sooner rather than later just whether or not the bout will indeed go ahead.
