The 45-year-old Filipino personally informed fans of his upcoming rematch with the 46-year-old American by stepping into the ring at the Rizin 45 New Year’s Eve event in Saitama.
“As I was informed by Rizin president Sakakibara, we will see you in Japan this year and it will be a big fight against Floyd Mayweather,” Pacquiao said. “I’m very excited about it. Thank you Rizin for your support, and thank you Sakakibara.”
The former world champion boxer’s last professional fight in eight weight classes was in August 2021, losing a 12-round unanimous decision to current WBA welterweight titleholder Yordenis Ugas. In December 2022, Manny Pacquiao had an exhibition fight with youtuber DK Yoo, whom he defeated by unanimous decision.
Floyd Mayweather has remained active since retiring from professional sports after defeating Conor McGregor in August 2017. In that time, Mayweather has had several exhibition bouts, including fights with bloggers Logan Paul and Deji, kickboxing champion Tenshin Nasukawa, RIZIN fighter Mikuru Asakura, and the grandson of legendary gangster John Gotti the Third.
In May 2015, Floyd Mayweather successfully unified the WBC, WBA and WBO welterweight boxing titles by defeating Manny Pacquiao by unanimous decision over twelve rounds. The bout became the most profitable fight in boxing history, selling 4.6 million pay-per-view broadcasts.