Mayweather-Pacquiao Rematch Announced as Exhibition

Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced that his highly anticipated rematch with Manny Pacquiao on September 19 in Las Vegas will serve as an exhibition bout rather than a professional fight, casting uncertainty over the event's competitive stakes and venue just months after its initial reveal.

The 49-year-old Mayweather, speaking to reporters in Las Vegas on Saturday, clarified that the matchup will not count toward either boxer's official record. "This is not actually a fight, it's an exhibition," he said. "We're going to do it again and hopefully we'll entertain the people. We're both winners." He added that the location remains unconfirmed, despite earlier reports pointing to the Sphere, an immersive arena on the Las Vegas Strip. "As of right now, we don't know exactly where the fight is going to be at," Mayweather stated. "The Sphere is one of the places that they talked about, so we don't know if it's 100 percent going to be there." The bout is set to stream globally on Netflix.

The announcement comes 11 years after Mayweather's unanimous decision victory over Pacquiao in their first encounter on May 2, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. That fight, billed as the...