[6] Serious negotiations were kickstarted in 2014 by an unlikely source: a Hollywood waiter and part-time actor, Gabriel Salvador,[7] made a key introduction between Pacquiao's trainer and confidant Freddie Roach and CBS President Les Moonves, who both worked to facilitate the match.

[17] It was later revealed following the event that Pacquiao had sustained an undisclosed injury to his right shoulder while training and that while it had healed in time for the fight, he re-injured it during the fourth round.

"[21] On November 14, 2009, Pacquiao stopped Puerto Rican star Miguel Cotto in round 12 to win the WBO welterweight title, becoming boxing's first ever seven-weight world champion.

"[23] On December 11, Golden Boy Promotions sent an eight-page contract to Top Rank, proposing a 50–50 financial split for a fight to take place on March 13, 2010.

[25] Venues for the fight being discussed were Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and the Superdome in New Orleans.

"[24] On December 13, 2009, Pacquiao's adviser, Michael Koncz, said Mayweather's request for Olympic-style drug testing was a laughing matter and they had no concerns whatsoever about it.

[27] Not long after declaring that the fight was off, Arum had a change of heart and offered Mayweather a 24-hour take-it-or-leave-it deadline to accept Team Pacquiao's terms for drug testing.

USADA, under its guidelines, would have the right to administer random blood tests as many times as they want up to weigh-in day and that is ludicrous," Arum explained.

[28] Freddie Roach told Lance Pugmire of the Los Angeles Times on December 22, 2009, that he would prefer for Pacquiao to give his final blood sample a week before the bout and no later than 72 hours before.

On December 28, 2009, video from an episode of HBO's Pacquiao–Hatton: 24/7 surfaced on the internet showing Pacquiao giving blood in the weeks leading up to his May 2, 2009, bout with Ricky Hatton.

Retired federal judge Daniel Weinstein, who successfully resolved a prior dispute between Top Rank and Golden Boy Promotions, would again act as mediator.

"I had a couple of conversations with Ross [Greenburg] and I laid out all the terms that would be acceptable to our side and I also informed him about the concession that Manny had made regarding drug testing.

He got back to me in a couple of weeks and told me that he had had discussions with Al Haymon, representing Floyd Mayweather, and that everything looked good and we were nearing a resolution," Arum explained.

[8] Salvador believed he could do so based on his connection to both men and his "unshakeable feeling" that together they could cut through the politicking and power struggles that seemed to have stymied prior negotiations.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao for the unified world welterweight championship was held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[70] The Philippine national anthem, "Lupang Hinirang", was performed by Filipino-American singer Gail Banawis, joined by The Word Chorale—a choir of Filipino pastors.

Other figures in attendance included Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi, Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Charles Barkley, Mike Tyson, Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Denzel Washington, Michael J.

Fox, Donald Trump, Jake Gyllenhaal, Amir Khan, Drew Barrymore, Jesse Jackson, Russell Westbrook, Mark Wahlberg, Lewis Hamilton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Cheadle, Michael Jordan, Sugar Ray Leonard, Paris Hilton, Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill, Ben Affleck, The Jonas Brothers, Michael Keaton, Tom Brady, Magic Johnson, Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Evander Holyfield, Mariah Carey, Sting, 50 Cent, and others.

CBS Sports Network (a sister to Showtime via CBS Corporation) also aired supplemental programming, including encores of Inside Mayweather vs. Pacquiao and past Mayweather fights, live coverage of the weigh-in, special broadcasts of The Doug Gottlieb Show and Boomer and Carton from Las Vegas, and coverage of the post-fight press conference.

The telecast was made available via commercial free pay-per-view on the television providers Cignal and SkyCable, and at the locations of theatre chain SM Cinema (including IMAX theaters) and the Mall of Asia Arena.

Solar Sports President Wilson Tieng said that Pacquiao personally requested the joint broadcast due to its historic nature, and that "everybody agreed to set aside all their differences to make sure that this will become the biggest event ever in Philippine television history."

Sky Sports Box Office won exclusive television rights in the UK to the bout, and produced a four episode broadcast leading up to the event titled Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Countdown.

[85] Sportsmax TV and Cleeng offered the fight via PPV in 19 Caribbean countries, including Barbados, Jamaica, Surinam, and Trinidad and Tobago.

[90][91][92] Organizers were especially concerned about the mobile broadcasting apps Meerkat and Periscope due to their relative ease of use and accessibility, as viewers could simply film their television screen with their phones to make a stream available.

[107][108] A bidding war ensued between Corona and Tecate—which had respectively served as prominent sponsors of previous Mayweather and Pacquiao fights—for lead sponsorship rights to the fight.

[104][105] Daily fantasy sports service FanDuel acquired sponsorship rights for Mayweather, including waistband branding and a block of tickets that were given away through an on-site sweepstakes.

[82] Due to hundreds of business jets reaching the ramp-parking capacity, McCarran International Airport was closed for non-airline flights during the event days.

Forbes.com contributor Brian Goff called it "arguably, the least entertaining 'mega fight' in memory", attributing the disappointment to Mayweather's defense-oriented strategy, which is atypical of top boxers.

Mayweather's stated in his posting of the video that the fight would happen "this year" and described it as "another nine-figure pay day on the way" and was heard remarking to Pacquiao that he was going to "take [the belt] from you like I did before".

[146] On November 4, 2018, it was announced that Mayweather would fight undefeated Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa on New Year's Eve,[147][148] in a three-round exhibition boxing match.