The gym is located a few streets away from Pacquiao’s two-decade-long home in the Wild Card Boxing Club, owned by Freddie Roach, and it will be the new home for Pacquiao moving forward as he trains to face Mayweather in their rematch at Sphere in Las Vegas.
“This is not an emotional decision, it’s a business decision,” Mathur told The Ring. “We’re not looking at anything Mayweather Boxing + Fitness did. We have our own model, and it’s the first of many Pacquiao Prime Boxing locations we want to open. It’s the first step in a much bigger plan that we have.
“It was cool that this space had the Mayweather name on it and whatnot, but we did it more for the location. It’s in a very visible, high-traffic and landmark area for what we want to accomplish moving forward. We envision many professional fighters, athletes, celebrities and top trainers wanting to be here.”
In the meantime, Mathur and the team have some work to do by stripping all of Mayweather’s images and branding from the gym, including Mayweather’s catchphrase “Hard Work, Dedication.”
But before doing so, Pacquiao couldn’t resist proper photo-op pictured next to his rival.