Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are set to meet again in a rematch 11 years in the making as the boxers prepare to clash at the Sphere in Las Vegas on Sept. 19 with the event airing live on Netflix.
It took several years and numerous false starts for the first Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight to actually happen but the event was a blockbuster success after becoming the biggest pay-per-view in combat sports history with over 4.4 million buys. More than a decade later, they’ll run it back with Mayweather coming out of retirement and putting his 50-0 record on the line against Pacquiao, who also returned to the professional ranks recently and went to a controversial draw with then WBC welterweight champion Mario Barrios.
While putting together a fight of this magnitude is never easy, Jas Mathur, who is the CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, revealed that the genesis for this particular rematch only dates back to last year.
“The first fight was 11 years ago so it’s really been in the works for the last 10 years from many different parties,” Mathur told MMA Fighting. “A lot of people tried. It went in 50 different circles, 50 different directions. This particular deal from start to finish, it started in August 2025.”
There are always a lot of moving parts involved in major boxing events from different managers, agents and promoters not to mention figuring out broadcast plans, purse splits and so much more. But Mathur says that Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 2 really boiled down to one major factor that got everybody on board in rapid-fire fashion.
“One of the biggest things I would say was the Netflix partnership and the opportunity to do it on Netflix,” Mathur said. “Just because Netflix is the No. 1 streaming platform. Today, we’re in a streaming world, post pay-per-view. They did the highest grossing boxing pay-per-view event of all time. So looking at the numbers, they see in the 21st century you’ve got Mike Tyson-Jake Paul and then you’ve got Canelo [Alvarez] and [Terence] Crawford that did amazing numbers.
“Tyson and Paul did 106 million views so these guys are look if we can have Netflix as a partner, we can get into so many different homes, get access to a whole different audience plus that opens up so many more opportunities, so much more exposure for other businesses and things they would want to do at an international level, that works for everyone. That’s what did it. That’s really what did it. It’s the fact that it’s on Netflix.”
Netflix currently boasts over 325 million subscribers, which is the biggest streaming platform by a wide margin, and expansion into sports and live events has been one of the company’s most important endeavors in recent years.
From adding NFL games on Christmas to the spectacle boxing events like Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson, Netflix has suddenly become a serious player for live sports. Prior to signing a deal with Paramount in 2025, the UFC was nearing a deal to move part of its programming to Netflix as well.
So far in 2026, Netflix already scheduled its first MMA event with UFC Hall of Famer Ronda Rousey returning from retirement to face Gina Carano in a card being promoted by Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions. That was followed by the announcement about Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 2, which Mathur says was really a no-brainer for Netflix when it comes to this big one-off events that have produced increasingly impressive viewership numbers.
“Imagine how many more subscribers Netflix is going to get,” Mathur said. “Imagine how much more content Netflix is going to get from Asia. Imagine how much more viewership Netflix is going to get from Asia. You look at that whole thing, it benefits all parties. People that are today’s generation that are used to watching the current generation of boxers, they’re going to go back and see Floyd and Manny one more time in today’s world and these guys are in excellent condition.
“Manny’s in better shape than he is now, Floyd’s always been in great shape. These guys age backwards. You’re talking about guys who made boxing.”
Despite all the back-and-forth arguments, finger pointing and accusations that surrounded the struggles to put the first fight together, Mathur admits that while the rematch wasn’t smooth sailing, it was clearly a much different process dealing with Mayweather and Pacquiao directly.
“Obviously they were both in a place to be able to get it done and take it across the finish line, just because also seeing Manny come back to the ring last year,” Mathur explained. “When Floyd sees Manny come back to the ring and they’re both retired, he’s like ‘I’m going to come back to the ring, too.’ Timing had a lot to do with it. Because when you’re talking about backends and you’re talking about crazy things, we’ll give you ‘X’ amount as a base, an ‘X’ amount of pay-per-view buys — in today’s market, it’s hard to measure what it would be. So when you’re talking Netflix and they’re heads are there and Manny is active and Floyd is like ‘I want to get back active again’ and it’s also a competitive thing.
“They want to break their records, set the bar high one more time, we got it done. Now it wasn’t easy. This was a very challenging process. There’s a lot of moving parts. There’s a lot of people to navigate. We had to clean up and move certain pieces around on the chessboard and get things done. It definitely was a very, very long process. It was very painful of what we had to go through to get everything done but the bottom line is we managed to get to the finish line and land the plane.”
In addition to the fight airing on Netflix, Mayweather and Pacquiao are going to clash again with the event taking place at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The massive venue has typically only served home to concerts and special events like airing The Wizard of Oz on the massive LED screens that surround the entire arena but the UFC put on the first ever live sporting event there with UFC 306 back in 2024.
That was one of the most talked about UFC shows of all-time and Netflix was obviously paying attention.
“Netflix wanted that,” Mathur revealed. “Netflix had a condition and they wanted to do it at the Sphere. Because they want this to be their ultimate. They want this to be an event that they put on that the world sees. It’s highest marketed event in Netflix sports. They’re pulling everything out for this one.
“So part of that is the production value and the production value to do that in boxing. So create like a WWE like production in boxing that’s never been done and showcase it to the world, where you’re turning into sports-entertainment for one night is going to be epic.”
Mathur stated that planning for the actual live production hasn’t started yet but he’s expecting a similar set up to the UFC had at the Sphere. The next several months are going to be spent orchestrating the live event for seating as well as how the fight is going to be seen on Netflix.
Another wrinkle for this rematch was Mayweather and Pacquiao putting their records on the line with a professional fight versus an exhibition. Since retirement, Mayweather has engaged in numerous exhibition bouts, which obviously wouldn’t affect his perfect 50-0 record.
In fact before he prepares for the Pacquiao rematch, Mayweather is expected to engage in an exhibition with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson.
But the stakes are much greater for the rematch between Mayweather and Pacquiao with both fighters agreeing this fight needed to count.
“Manny has always wanted a rematch with Floyd and wanted it to be professional,” Mathur said. “There’s been discussions of professional in the past. There’s been discussions of exhibitions. Unfortunately those discussions never panned out to anything, they never materialized.
“Floyd was in a position now where he’s ready to make a comeback. Because Manny has also made his comeback and step back into the ring as a pro fighter. So he’s putting it on the line. He’s not scared. He knows what he’s doing. He didn’t get to 50-0 by not knowing what he’s doing.”
There’s still a lot of time before Mayweather and Pacquiao starting throwing punches at each other again but the promotion for the event has already started.
Mathur believes the anticipation for this rematch is going to be unlike anything that has ever been seen before and he expects Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 2 to crush every other fight that’s already aired on Netflix.
“This will definitely have more views than any other event in Netflix sports history. Period. Point blank. Mic drop there,” Mathur said. “It is going to destroy. It’s not an ego thing, oh this guy is better than this guy and we’re going to beat their numbers. It’s not about that. You just have to look at a simple thing: Manny is from Asia. What is the population in Asia compared to North America? Look at Manny’s global fan base. Put Floyd to the side for a moment, Floyd has a huge global fanbase right? But just look at Manny’s Asian demographic. Look at Manny on Asia Games and see what he did there.
“So part of this whole thing coming together, also, was Netflix seeing what kind of traction Manny had on a show that they had, which Manny was on. It’s not about look at Jake Paul and Mike Tyson and the numbers they did. They did phenomenal numbers. It’s not easy to get 106 million views. It’s not easy to get 1 million views. But these guys are international icons. They’re not just boxers. They’re legends.”
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