The long-awaited rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has officially been postponed, with Pacquiao's camp pointing to the growing legal turmoil surrounding Mayweather as the reason the blockbuster fight will no longer take place on its planned September 19 date.
Jas Mathur, CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions, confirmed to The Ring that the event has been pushed back indefinitely while the parties work through a web of contractual disputes. In the meantime, Pacquiao's team has begun exploring alternative opponents to keep the boxing legend active.
"We're working on it. We're looking at different options, we're looking at different things," Mathur said. "We want to be very careful. Of course, we are under contract at this time, but yes, we are working on trying to get an alternate fight as well... so he has enough time for his camp against Floyd."
Mathur was even more direct when explaining why the original September date fell apart.
"It's actually being postponed from September," he said. "That's obviously due to all the lawsuits and legal issues going on at the moment. CSI put it all out in the open 10 days ago."
Those legal issues have quickly snowballed. Earlier this month, CSI Sports Events sued Floyd Mayweather, alleging he breached an exclusive promotional agreement after accepting millions in advances tied to an exhibition against Mike Tyson and the Pacquiao rematch. The company claims it paid Mayweather $4.65 million before he announced an exhibition with Greek kickboxing star Mike Zambidis, a move it says violated the agreement.
That dispute had immediate consequences. Just hours before Mayweather was scheduled to face Zambidis in Athens, the exhibition was canceled after CSI sought an emergency injunction. According to court filings, Mayweather's attorney acknowledged that the pending litigation had effectively shut down the event’s promotion and halted ticket sales.
"All of these things are intertwined," he explained. "Floyd's fight against Mike Tyson, Floyd's return to pro boxing, the Manny Pacquiao fight... and of course, the Greece fight. Everything is kind of intertwined together just based off how the contracts were done and how the deals were structured."
The contractual battle is unfolding as Mayweather faces mounting legal scrutiny elsewhere. In recent weeks, he has been charged in Nevada with felony theft and passing a bad check in connection with a $200,000 luxury watch purchase.
He is also dealing with a reported $7.3 million IRS tax lien, multiple civil lawsuits over alleged unpaid debts, and a lawsuit against Showtime Networks and a separate $175 million fraud lawsuit against former adviser Jona Rechnitz.
Despite the postponement, Pacquiao's camp insists the rematch is still alive.
"Yes, I do," Mathur said when asked whether he still expects the fight to happen. "The first one took five years to put together, and this won't take that long."
Still, he acknowledged that untangling the current situation may require starting over.
"If a house is already half on fire, let it burn to the ground," Mathur said. "You're not going to save the house when it's half on fire already. So let it burn to the ground, and then we rebuild it. That's what's happening right now in front of everyone's eyes."
