Everyone remembers the "Fight of the Century" at the MGM Grand with Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather won with a unanimous decision on that day, and everyone had been wondering what could possibly be next for the two fighters that took home one of the biggest purses in the history of boxing. While it is not clear who Manny Pacquaio's next opponent will be, we know that Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be going up against Andre Berto.
A report from the Philippine Daily Inquirer states that Manny Pacquiao had no intentions of retiring. He has been quoted saying: "I can retire, but in my heart I'm happy to give honor to the Philppines, that's what encourages me as a boxer".
Of course, he will be coming back in 2016, which means that you can probably start taking numbers for the opponents that want to take on Pacquiao. One of them is British boxer Amir Khan, who has issued a challenge a while ago. Khan's response to Pacquiao's response is as follows: "Look, if Manny wants to fight, we can do it, I've offered him and his team in the past, but they turned us down". Amir Khan also wants to fight Floyd Mayweather Jr. as well, believing that he could be the one that will go up against the fighter on September 12th. We'll see later why that is not going to happen.
According to Opening Round, the next fight for Pacquiao could be Lucas Matthysse. Of course, Matthysse will need to win his fight against Vicktor Postol in September, which would move him up to welterweight division to face Pacquiao. Matthysse has shown a lot of zeal for fighting with "the Filipino", and acknowledges that "Mayweather is harder to secure".
In fact, International Business News reports that we know for sure that Floyd Mayweather will return to the ring on September 12th to fight Andre Berto. It was constantly speculated that Mayweather would be fighting someone on that date to pre-date the fighter's retirement, but now we know.
This fight will be the 49th and possibly last of his career, as it will end his six-fight deal with Showtime. Mayweather has stated many times that he will retire at the conclusion of his contract with Showtime, and there is speculation that the fight will be on CBS instead of pay-per-view. It would be the biggest boxing event since...well, the last time that Mayweather fought.
Berto isn't necessarily the most worthy of opponents, as a separate article from the International Business Times calls Berto "underwhelming". Berto isn't even amongst the top welterweights, and Mayweather has passed over a few unbeaten champions to fight a boxer who has lost three of his last six fights.
So what will happen on September 12th? It could be the 38-year-old Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s last fight, but does anyone want to see him take on Pacquaio again? I wouldn't be surprised if we see a rematch sometime in the near or far future.
