Longtime rivals Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao now find themselves in the same corner. In an interview with FightHype, Mayweather said he’s supporting Pacquiao’s bid for the presidency in the coming 2022 Philippine elections.
The former pound-for-pound king also said Pacquiao is organizing a charity basketball game next month. “Absolutely,” said Mayweather after he was asked if he is co-signing Pacquiao’s presidential bid.
Mayweather also alluded that the basketball game is something that Pacquiao concocted to help him in the elections. “He could be bringing us there to help him win, that’s possible. Me and Pacquiao, we’re actually gonna play basketball in the Philippines. That’s coming up soon. I think January,” said the unbeaten boxing champion.
The 44-year-old Mayweather, who retired with a perfect 50-0 record, and eight-division champion Pacquiao, who called it a career last August after an upset loss to Yordenis Ugas, defined their generation and were the consensus top names in the sport during their primes.
They faced each other in 2015, in a match dubbed as the Fight of the Century, with Mayweather taking the unanimous decision. Though an idea of a rematch was repeatedly floated, it never came to fruition.
Mayweather said the basketball game that he and Pacquiao would play in would feature retired NBA stars and players from the AND1 Live Tour.
“Me and Pacquiao actually, I think we’re gonna play basketball in the Philippines. That’s coming up soon. I think January,” said Mayweather. “We’re gonna play a little bit of basketball. We’re gonna take some guys out there. We got some former NBA players a couple of AND1 players, so it’s going to be interesting,” he added.
Both Pacquiao and Mayweather are big basketball fans. The retired 8-division champion suited up for PBA team KIA, before establishing the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League.
