The bout will take place more than 11 years after their first encounter, a blockbuster bout that Mayweather won by unanimous decision.

Mayweather, who turned 49 on Tuesday, and Pacquiao, 47, are grandfathers now, but they’re still capable of captivating a grand audience.

One of the instrumental figures involved in getting the fight across the finish line was Jas Mathur, the CEO of Manny Pacquiao Promotions. Mathur took on the role in December, and before working with Pacquiao, Mathur also had a working relationship and friendship with Mayweather through his company, Limitless X Holdings.

The Ring caught up with Mathur to get a better understanding of how Mayweather-Pacquiao was made and some of the specific details surrounding the fight. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It was a combination of things. Many people have tried to do the rematch. A lot of deals and offers have come through. It always comes down to the strength of the offer and how many parties are involved in the middle, bringing the offer to the table. When there are a lot of people in the middle, it just doesn't come across the right way. My strength is taking things and bringing them to the finish line. I have a relationship on both sides, so I was able to do that.

Netflix was one of the biggest factors that played a role in this. Netflix is for today's era and has over 325 million global subscribers. We're no longer in a pay-per-view era. That model is done. Over 100 million people have already watched boxing on Netflix, so we know we have numbers to set and records to break, again, which these two guys want to do. There are additional opportunities that are going to come through the Netflix platform, the potential long-term partnership that's going to come for so many other things down the road with other Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies globally.

Netflix is heavily invested in this to make this the biggest Netflix Sports event ever, from a production standpoint, and they committed to the Sphere in order to do that. It's all of these things put together, and the right people being involved. That's how we got to the finish line.

Demand-wise, people are always going to have comments and something to say. A lot of people are excited. And then there are others saying this fight is not going to do that great. Or why are they doing this? They're old, this, that. Those are the first people who are going to want to watch it.

As we get closer to the fight, as people start seeing their training camp videos, they are going to realize that this is not a joke. They'll be in serious condition. There is a reason why they are global names outside of boxing and household brands. There is a reason why they broke records once, and they are going to break them again. These guys are built differently.

It's going to be either 10 or 12 three-minute rounds. They will use eight-ounce gloves. The weight has not been confirmed yet. We are still waiting on Floyd's side. Manny wants 147 pounds.

There is no limit to how much can be in the pot. It is a completely different model. A lot of this is going to be based on Netflix's subscriber count going up, more people from Asia joining in, and stuff like that. It's part of the reason why Netflix wants to do it. In terms of numbers, we are expecting significant numbers. From a base guarantee, purses standpoint, and the backend, the deal that both fighters have with Netflix is better than any other deal Netflix has done with any other boxer until today.

I can't share the exact number, but let's just say, you know what they are worth, and they know what they are worth, and they know the numbers they have done before. If the numbers didn't make sense, they would not have signed on the dotted line, and we wouldn't be where we are today.

Over.

It's very hard to explain this, but these guys are in better condition today than before, I would say. Floyd's conditioning hasn't changed at all. We saw what Manny did against Mario Barrios in July. He's in phenomenal condition. It's hard to say, 'Well, wait. Here we are 11 years later. How did they improve over time?' It's just the way some people are. They get better with age.

I don't think Floyd will ever be a stationary target. Manny knows that. That's not Floyd. There is a reason why he's the greatest of all time. There is a reason why he's 50-0. And there is a bigger reason why he's agreed to step back into the ring, and that's because Floyd is Floyd. Floyd plays to win, as does Manny. It's going to be very good.

The medicals and stuff are the same. It's the standard testing, which is typically: full physical, MRI, MRA, blood, eye exam, and EKG. They are getting insurance, so that's not a problem. There are no concerns or issues there. You also have to look at their history and how they have performed. They've always shown up. They are not risks.

Yes, most likely yes, there will be. Floyd always likes to work with USADA, so it will likely be USADA.

I wouldn't say the negotiations were easier. In something like this, nothing is easy. It takes a lot of time. It was months of negotiations. There were a lot of things around this that made life very challenging for me. But there were rational people on all sides, and Netflix, and the production company, EverWonder Studio, were great partners. We were able to get it done.

The challenges are always that you are dealing with a lot of egos, and you are dealing with a lot of people who have other personal motives. You have to be able to navigate around that and not let that impact the fighter's best interests. That's part of the reason why it took time, but the time led us to a positive result and a place where we are today.

The undercard is going to be good. It will be a meaningful one. It's going to be done by Floyd and Manny. We would like to have Manny's son Jimuel and Floyd's protege Curmel Moton on the card. There could possibly be world title fights as well. We want generational storytelling. We want legends. We want rising stars of the future.

It's not impossible. We won't rule it out. But this all comes down to what Manny and Floyd want, and what the respective fighters want.

Netflix wanted the Sphere, and their rationale behind it was the production and what they felt they could do. They want to create an event that will be remembered forever as the greatest boxing event of all time. And it's not just boxing, it's sports entertainment. They want to showcase this on the highest level possible.

We don't know what the future holds. We're still at an early stage. We're open to anything. Dana is a great promoter. Just look at what he's built. With what we are doing and the team that we have in place, I can't say that he won't be a part of it. I always say this: If you're the smartest in the room, you're in the wrong room. The more brains you have in the room, even for advisory purposes, that's great. I don't have an ego, and I always like to be around people who are smarter than me, because not everybody knows everything about everything. That also goes for Dana White. Every day, he is learning. It gives ambition to want to accomplish more. The fun is the challenge of the game and being able to conquer and do things that people think you can't do.

From a Sphere-specific standpoint, our production partner EverWonder Studio has it covered. That's what they do, high-profile events all the time. From an economic standpoint, it doesn't make sense to do boxing or UFC events at the Sphere. But this is not a standard boxing event. It's an iconic fight inside a top venue where you can create a production masterpiece that’s never been done before in boxing.

One-hundred percent. I wouldn't even blink an eye at that. We will beat the Mike Tyson versus Jake Paul number. If you look at the global reach of Floyd and Manny and the global following they have, it's massive.

So, the Pacquiao-Provodnikov exhibition that is there right now is not official. It's 100% not official. It's not done. It's not locked in. It's not signed and sealed. It's not the opponent that is the problem; it's the certain structures and arrangements of the deal itself.

Manny will likely have an exhibition before the Mayweather fight. We are working on it. I don't know if it will be this one, because as of right now, this one is not official. It's floating around. The people who are putting it on have an opportunity to try and make it happen, but it's not something we wanted to tackle until its time, and that time is now to sort it all out.

We want Manny to have an exhibition. He can stay in shape, fight, and make money while doing it. Why say no to money? He's going to spar and fight anyway inside the gym, so might as well do an exhibition and have some relevance.

The day after this event is over, the conversation we are having is history was made again, records were broken again, and an event was put on that no one else can come close to putting on. Everyone is going to be shocked and be like, they're not done yet. Everyone will be wondering and waiting to watch them fight for a third time, or against someone else.