Still swinging: What’s next for Manny Pacquiao’s boxing career
Father Time is undefeated, but Manny Pacquiao keeps resisting.
At 47, Pacquiao does not plan to stop fighting anytime soon — the Filipino boxing icon eyeing both professional and exhibition bouts through 2026 and 2027, with a long-awaited rematch against Floyd Mayweather Jr. still firmly on the agenda.
So what is next?
Top priority
According to Manny Pacquiao Promotions chief executive officer Jaspreet “Jas” Mathur, reviving the postponed Mayweather rematch is the priority.
Pacquiao and Mayweather, who first met in their blockbuster 2015 showdown, had agreed to face each other again in a professional fight scheduled for September to be streamed globally by entertainment giant Netflix.
A quick look at Netflix’s catalog shows the rematch remains on the platform’s schedule, but the fight has been postponed indefinitely due to legal and contractual disputes involving Mayweather’s camp.
“He has a long way to go. He’ll definitely be in a lot of exhibitions over the next few years but we ran into a little bit of a hiccup with the Mayweather fight that was initially planned for September of this year,” Mathur said of Pacquiao.
“Based of that, we didn’t entertain other exhibition offers that were there around. We’re also looking at the right partners to work for exhibitions, and then from there, also the right opponents for pro fight. There’ll be a lot of things coming up.”
“There’s a plan to have a fight for this year and then to roll into next year with the big fight.”
Mayweather has been embroiled in legal trouble after CSI Sports Events, which was contracted to produce the American’s exhibition against former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and rematch against Pacquiao this year, sued him for breach of contract.
CSI Sports Events claimed that Mayweather breached their agreement when he agreed to fight Greek kickboxer Mike Zambidis in an exhibition bout scheduled for June 27. The fight, however, never took place.
Mathur, though, said Mayweather was not to blame for the postponement of his rematch with Pacquiao.
“It’s just a very, very big mess and just a very complicated situation that was really caused by one person. For the record, this whole mess that happened is not really Floyd’s fault but we have to untangle it. There’s been a lot of work and his team is working, they’re doing what they need to do to untangle certain things,” said Mathur.
“Next year, 100 percent, it’s going to happen.”
By the time the rematch rolls around, however, Mayweather — who will turn 50 in February — and Pacquiao are far removed from the fighters who squared off in their 2015 clash famously dubbed the “Fight of the Century.”
The fight shattered revenue records by generating over $600 million, although the action in the ring proved underwhelming, with a defensive-minded Mayweather warding off Pacquiao to score a unanimous decision win and stay unbeaten.
Mayweather has fought professionally only twice since, beating Andre Berto in 2015 and Conor McGregor in 2017 to raise his record to 50-0 before retiring for the third time in his career.
For Mathur, having Pacquiao and Mayweather back in the ring together is still a sight to behold despite their age.
“Everybody wants to see Floyd and Manny one more time. That’s what’s going to break all records. That’s what’s going to be the most viewed event again in today’s era, in the streaming era,” he said.
“I think people are always going to be interested in watching that fight. These guys, they’re an anomaly, each one of them, whether Floyd or Manny. Age doesn’t really matter in that spectrum between these two. Everybody’s going to watch the fight. The people that say they’re not going to watch the fight are going to be the first ones to watch the fight.”
“Floyd’s not backing down from this, and neither is Manny.”
Do more
Pacquiao had drawn the curtains on his legendary career in 2021 following his unanimous decision loss to Cuban Yordenis Ugas in their title fight for the World Boxing Association welterweight belt.
But after back-to-back election setbacks that saw him lose in both the presidential and senatorial races in 2022 and 2025, respectively, Pacquiao came out of retirement last year to challenge Mexican-American Mario Barrios for the World Boxing Council welterweight title.
Then 46 years old, Pacquiao fell short in resetting his record as the oldest welterweight world champion as Barrios — who is 16 years younger — narrowly retained the belt by way of a majority draw.
Pacquiao, boxing’s only eight-division world champion, believes he has plenty of gas left in the tank, especially with a longer preparation period for a fight.
The campaign period for the 2025 elections ended in May, with Pacquiao taking on Barrios just a little over two months after in July.
“I can do more. I can do more than that. I can still feel like I can still fight and I’m strong because I’m [a] disciplined person, [with] the way I eat, everything like that,” Pacquiao told the Ring Magazine program Inside The Ring in April.
“To prepare is not two months or two and a half months. You need long preparation because you need your body to have rest during the heavy training days.”
Even now that he is a grandfather, Pacquiao makes sure to keep himself in form.
“At the age of 30-plus, 40-plus, your metabolism is becoming slower. Your recovery is not that easy compared before when you were young. What I discovered is you’re getting slower if you don’t handle it. But there’s a way that you can stay fit, stay in shape, [retain] speed. You can get that as long as you’re taking care of your body,” Pacquiao said.
Other prospects
When it comes to other professional fights for Pacquiao, Mathur said anything is possible.
Talks were in place for Pacquiao to face reigning WBA welterweight champion Rolly Romero early in 2026, but negotiations fell through.
Romero is now set to tangle with Teofimo Lopez in August for his first title defense.
“I actually wanted to put the Rolly fight together. That was my plan from the beginning. I was even talking about it last year because I’m with Manny already and Rolly’s also with me, in my company, Limitless. Rolly is also a dear friend. That’s a very direct situation. But Rolly’s fighting, he has another fight against Teo,” said Mathur.
Mathur also confirmed the possibility of Pacquiao locking horns with reigning WBC welterweight champion Ryan Garcia, who won the belt following a unanimous decision victory over Barrios in February.
Garcia, though, already has a fight lined up as he is set to defend his title against Conor Benn in September.
“Everyone’s on the table. It’s all on the table,” said Mathur.
But for Mathur, the goal is to bring the Pacquiao-Mayweather rematch into fruition.
“We have to focus on what’s in front of us right now,” he said. “We want to break records right now. That’s what we want to do.” – Rappler.com
