Floyd Mayweather Jr. just shot himself in the foot. On the road to a multimillion-dollar fight against Filipino idol Manny Pacquiao, a single word from the former world champion has just jeopardized not only Netflix’s publicity efforts but also public interest in the event.
This past February, Netflix announced with great fanfare the rematch of the most-watched fight in boxing history; a bout that defined a generation of fans.
Eleven years after their record-breaking fight, Pacquiao and Mayweather would meet again in the ring, in an official and fully sanctioned fight, this September 19.
Although there’s still no official venue for the fight card, Netflix and MP Promotions are eyeing The Sphere in Las Vegas as the location. However, Mayweather just said something that could derail all those efforts.
Mayweather just ruined his rematch with Pacquiao
The undefeated world champion is known for always speaking his mind, and in a recent interview with Vegas Sports Today, he revealed some troubling details about the fight against Pacquiao.
“As of right now, we do not know where the fight is going to be,”Mayweather said, landing a jab at the Netflix promotion, which is already counting on The Sphere as the venue.
“The Sphere is one of the places that they talked about,” the former champion explained. However, he reiterated: “We do not know if it’s 100% going to be there.”
But what really put the fight against the ropes was when he said:
This isn’t actually a fight. It’s an exhibition.
You could almost hear the fans closing their wallets.
Mayweather’s fading star power
Uncrowned analyst Alan Dawson asserted that the mere mention of the word “exhibition” landed a “knockdown blow on whatever fan interest MP Promotions, and indeed Netflix, have already generated for this event.”
According to Dawson:
Few fight fans will want to see something that could be so big when it suddenly means so little.
He recalled that his most recent exhibition against MMA veteran Aaron Chalmers in 2023 at London’s O2 Arena was a complete fiasco, even with last-minute ticket discounts.
Now, Netflix, MP Promotions, and even Pacquiao will have to deal with the consequences of Mayweather’s “honesty.”
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