Here we go again: Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. vs. Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao II

Anybody that didn't see this coming - you need some coffee, because your ass is sleepy.

• Manny tugging at the leash and distancing himself from Top Rank, a struggle reaching its zenith with him flexing on Arum by carving out the Kuala Lumpur event as his own solo promotional deal? (and raging on since then with legal actions taken by the Filipino star)
• Floyd keeping himself fresh in fan's minds by engaging in wars of words against his would-be protégés Broner and Davis?
• Manny very carefully selecting Matthysse of all people - when you think about it, the perfect opponent for Pacquiao's stock to skyrocket to, if not quite what it was before the first Mayweather fight...as close as it can probably get now, to reconstitute his destructive aura post-Horn? (Matthysse was still considered extremely dangerous in spite of the poor showing against Kiram, enough that fans could overlook the obvious signs of Matthysse at this stage being tailor made - due to styles and then compounded by wear & tear on the many-times-over battle-withered Argentine - for Pac to get on the vicious beat-down & KO scoreboard again..)
• Floyd deliberately leaving the door open to a return with vague noncommittal statements publicly yet pointedly not tying himself down to a Conor McGregor rematch or Amir Khan or anything else bandied about the rumor mill (and entertained by Floyd with polite bemusement during interviews, careful to never rule them out and to always have that "yeah, maybe" twinkle in his eye)

Yeah, this was always happening. The date of December 2nd has been reserved for Pacquiao's first WBA title defense ever since he captured the belt against Matthysse in July... with his long expressed with to have it staged in a venue somewhere in Asia. Given their meeting up in Japan, we might have an idea of where exactly.



Notes:

December 2nd is a Sunday (as was July 15th, when Pacquiao fought Matthysse in Malaysia) - clearly this is his preferred MO now in the "doing things on my own terms" late chapter of his career - having Sunday fights in Asia...while still accommodating Western television by scheduling them in the daytime locally so they can air live on "Saturday night" in the Occident.

Mayweather is 41, and this will take place two weeks and one day before Pacquiao celebrated his own 40th birthday.