Floyd Mayweather is creeping up on his 49th birthday later this month, and has announced that he intends to resume a boxing career that officially ended nearly a decade ago.
Mayweather and his new team put out a press release today announcing his plans to come back to the ring in official, sanctioned fights, following a tentatively planned exhibition with Mike Tyson coming in April.
Mayweather’s 50-0 (27 KO) record would once again be on the line, years after he’s passed his prime, which could be intriguing enough for a lot of people — from his fans to his haters — to be hugely interested in seeing him fight again.
The most likely idea, at least on paper, would be a rematch with Manny Pacquiao, who is also doing an exhibition in April, against Ruslan Provodnikov.
Pacquiao, 47, made his own return to the ring last July, going to a draw with Mario Barrios in a WBC welterweight title fight. Pacquiao and Mayweather smashed records with their 2015 fight, which Mayweather won by decision.
Pacquiao fought seven more time after that fight, leaving the sport after a 2021 loss to Yordenis Ugas, before his comeback last summer.
Mayweather, meanwhile, fought just two more times. He defeated Andre Berto in a “farewell” event four months after downing Pacquiao, then came back for a novelty fight with then-UFC champion Conor McGregor in 2017.
The Mayweather announcement comes with no concrete information and could ultimately amount to absolutely nothing, but Floyd returning to the ring with his “0” on the line, against Pacquiao or anyone else even a little credible, would be big news in boxing. It would be short-term big news, but that’s boxing’s specialty.
