Mayweather Jr. announces 2020 return to the ring

Just days after publicly declaring he was done with the “brutal sport” of boxing, former pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather has announced a 2020 comeback.

The 42-year-old Mayweather (50-0, 27 KOs), who won world titles in five divisions, wrote in an Instagram post late yesterday that he plans to return to the ring next year.

Mayweather’s announcement came shortly after he posted a picture of himself and UFC president Dana White sitting next to each other courtside at a Celtics-Clippers NBA game in Los Angeles. Both White and the UFC’s social media accounts reposted the image, which suggested the two parties would join forces promotionally once again.

UFC served as the co-promoter of Mayweather’s last return to the ring in 2017 when he emerged from a two-year retirement to defeat MMA superstar Conor McGregor in a superfight that threatened or broke nearly every pay-per-view and box office record for a fight. In addition, White has teased throughout most of 2019 that a fall announcement would be coming regarding his launch of the UFC spinoff promotion called Zuffa Boxing.

What isn’t known at this time is whether Mayweather plans to face an active boxer or continue down the road of making crossover spectacle fights against fighters from other combat disciplines. Not only has he been linked with rumours of a boxing match against UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov for more than a year, Mayweather returned for an exhibition bout in Japan last December when he knocked out 20-year-old kickboxing prodigy Tenshin Nasukawa.

The resurgence of Mayweather rival Manny Pacquiao in 2019 has also fuelled rumours of a potential rematch of their long-awaited 2015 bout which established a new combat sports PPV record at 4.6 million buys. Pacquiao, 40, scored decision wins over Adrien Broner and Keith Thurman this year and has a legitimate case for fighter of the year consideration.

Mayweather has kept busy throughout his multiple retirements as the head of his eponymous boxing promotional company and through business ventures such as his Las Vegas strip club and his burgeoning chain of Mayweather Boxing and Fitness gyms.