{"id":343820,"date":"2025-12-31T01:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T01:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/343820\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T01:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T01:49:09","slug":"manny-pacquiao-title-fight-talks-collapse-to-put-floyd-mayweather-rematch-back-on-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/343820\/","title":{"rendered":"Manny Pacquiao title fight talks collapse to put Floyd Mayweather rematch back on the table"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manny Pacquiao’s plans to challenge Rolly Romero for his WBA welterweight title have collapsed.<\/p>\n

After making a valiant comeback to the sport in July<\/a>, Pacquiao made it clear that his sights were firmly set on fighting Romero next.<\/p>\n

\"Boxing<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Pacquiao was 40 when he first set the record as the oldest welterweight champion, and was hoping to break it by defeating RomeroCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

The pair have been in talks for months and appeared to be edging closer to penning a deal to share the ring in early 2026.<\/p>\n

But, according to reports from Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger, that is no longer the plan.<\/p>\n

Coppinger shared on X: “Talks to match up Manny Pacquiao<\/a> in a title shot vs Rolly Romero in early 2026 have collapsed, sources tell @ringmagazine. <\/p>\n

“Pacquiao still exploring the Floyd Mayweather rematch. <\/p>\n

READ MORE BOXINGManny Pacquiao confirms stance on Floyd Mayweather rematch after incredible comeback fight: \u2018No problem’<\/p>\n

“Romero, meanwhile, has a looming mandatory vs Shakhram Giyasov.”<\/p>\n

While the door seems to be closed on Pacquiao fighting Romero, it has been left open for a potential rematch with long-time rival Floyd Mayweather Jr.<\/p>\n

Their inaugural encounter in May 2015 saw Mayweather score a unanimous decision win to unify the WBC, WBA and WBO welterweight titles.<\/p>\n

Following their bout, which was dubbed the ‘Fight of the Century’, Mayweather fought twice more before retiring from the professional ranks with a perfect 50-0 record.<\/p>\n

Since then, ‘Money’ has competed in various exhibition bouts and is currently gearing up for his next outing to the ring. <\/p>\n

In March 2026, Mayweather is set to meet Mike Tyson<\/a> for an exhibition bout<\/a>, although the exact date hasn’t been announced.<\/p>\n

\"It<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

It remains unclear if Mayweather would risk his unbeaten record to face off with Pacquiao againCredit: Getty\"Manny<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Over ten years on from their first fight, could Pacquiao and Mayweather do the dance once again?Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

While Pacquiao has also competed in multiple exhibition bouts, he has repeatedly stated that he wants to rematch Mayweather in a professionally sanctioned fight.<\/a><\/p>\n

Why did talks for Manny Pacquiao vs Rolly Romero collapse?<\/p>\n

The exact reason for the collapse of their talks is unknown, but Pacquiao and Romero had faced numerous obstacles<\/a> trying to action their fight.<\/p>\n

These obstacles include Romero being ordered to face the WBA mandatory challenger<\/a>, Giyasov.<\/p>\n

The order meant that he would have had to vacate his title to fight Pacquiao.<\/p>\n

In light of that, the 30-year-old lodged an exemption bid to the governing body, requesting to bypass Giyasov and face off with ‘Pac Man’ instead.<\/p>\n

It’s likely that Romero will now fulfil the WBA’s order to fight Giyasov, but any official confirmation of either man’s plans has yet to follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manny Pacquiao’s plans to challenge Rolly Romero for his WBA welterweight title have collapsed. After making a valiant…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,6102,78670,6100,6663,77737,101,56,54,55,133226],"class_list":{"0":"post-343820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-news","10":"tag-floyd-mayweather-jr","11":"tag-manny-pacquiao","12":"tag-rematch","13":"tag-rolly-romero","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-unitedkingdom","18":"tag-wba-welterweight-title"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}