A Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch may be on the verge after Manny "Pacman' Pacquiao regained the World Welterweight title against Jessie Vargas. Speculations surfaced when Floyd Mayweather, Jr. was spotted at ringside during the Pacquiao-Vargas fight at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las vegas.
Mayweather is not known for watching live boxing action especially if it's not organized by Mayweather Promotions. But he was there, per Pacquiao's invitation, at ringside, near Pacquiao's corner.
Before the opening bell was sounded, Pacquiao stood in his corner, looked at Mayweather, pumped his fist and gave his nemesis a smile. Pacquiao then went on to deliver an impressive performance against Vargas and got the Weltherweight win by unanimous decision. After the decision was announced, he stood in the ring post in front of Mayweather, with the title belt on his shoulder, and gave Mayweather a smile. Mayweather then responded with a thumbs up.
Mayweather has not said anything yet about his comments on his possible rematch with Pacquiao. But he was asked what he thought about Pacquiao's fight and he just responded with "not bad!".
Pacquiao has already expressed willingness to fight Mayweather again. "If the rematch happens, I want to make sure the fans love it," said Pacquiao. "I will give it my all just to get back the trust of the fans," he added.
As of the moment, there's no negotiations between the two camps about a rematch, but Top Rank promotions CEO Bob Arum said there is a 75% chance the rematch will happen. "I give it 75 percent," said Arum. "Now, that doesn't mean that the fight will happen, but if it does, it won't take a long time to make because the animosity that was there before the first fight is gone," the Top Rank CEO said.
It took 5 years of going back and forth with the negotiations before the first fight happened between Pacquiao and Mayweather. And when it finally came, it generated an estimated $600 million worth of revenue. This time around, everybody is hoping that rematch negotiations won't take that long since both are getting older by the second. Pacquaio will turn 38 in December and Mayweather will be 40 in February.