Gulf Today, Staff Reporter
Jack Ma, reported to be China’s richest man, and famed Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao have teamed up for a unique challenge: taking on Floyd Mayweather, one of the greatest fighters to have entered a boxing ring.
In a video posted on Twitter on Sunday, the duo challenged Floyd Mayweather to a bout.
"Floyd Mayweather, if you want a real fight, fight me. If you want an exhibition, my guy, my friend, Jack Ma will take care of you, " Pacquiao said, according to a news report.
"I am ready. Any time, any place, Manny's team is ready," Ma said.
Ma, who stepped down as head of the e-commerce behemoth that he founded, Alibaba, last month, is a well-known martial arts buff.
Pacquiao, also known as Pac Man, is in a unique league altogether. He has won twelve major world titles and the first boxer in history to win major world titles in four of the eight "glamour divisions" of boxing: flyweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight.
There has been speculation about a rematch ever since Mayweather scored a unanimous decision over Pacquiao, who later said he was hampered by a right shoulder injury, in a 2015 bout that was dubbed “The Fight of the Century” but never lived up to its billing.
Pacquiao is quite a multifaceted person. He launched his own cryptocurrency recently and even sang at a concert. Already a senator in the southeast Asian country, some believe the popular Pacquiao could take over from President Rodrigo Duterte when the election to replace him is held in 2022.
On Saturday, Pacquiao dined with Ma in Hangzhou, according to another report. The billionaire presented golden microphones to the legendary boxer.
And the icing on the cake was when he did some FaceTime with none other than martial arts superstar, Jet Li Lianjie.
Mayweather, who retired at 40 in 2017 with the unprecedented win-loss record of 50-0, had earlier claimed that Pacquiao’s “entire legacy and career has been built off its association with my name.”