Rematch between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao not happening anytime soon

Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao are not stepping into the ring any time soon for a rematch of their much-hyped 2015 fight.

Despite prior reports that talks were in the advanced stages and that contracts were soon to be distributed, that is not even remotely the case.

Pacquiao (60-7-2, 39 KO's), who turns 40 on Dec. 17, boxing's only eight-division world champion, admitted on Tuesday, while promoting his upcoming bout with Adrien Broner, that he has been given no ''assurances'' of getting the elusive rematch with Mayweather, who recently told TMZ "I don't give a f*** what's going on with Pacquiao."

Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe also said at the press conference, "We [Floyd and I] haven't had one discussion about it."

Mayweather was singing a different tune in September when both he and Pacquiao were seen at a music festival in Tokyo. The former-five division world champion quickly took to Instagram, saying, "I'm coming back to fight Manny Pacquiao this year another 9 figure pay day on the way."

Perhaps it was a calculated move by Mayweather to steal the headlines from the highly-anticipated middleweight title rematch between Canelo Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It would not be the first time that Mayweather has pulled such a move. On June 14, 2017, the 41-year-old's bout with former UFC titlist Conor McGregor was made official for Aug. 26, which also stole the thunder from the first bout between Canelo and Triple-G, which took place about three weeks later -- also at "the house that Floyd built," -- in T-Mobile Arena.

Mayweather also announced earlier this month that he was fighting Japanese kickboxing phenom Tenshin Nasukawa on Dec. 31 in Tokyo, but pulled out days later after he and his team were apparently misled about the magnitude of the event. Mayweather claimed that he agreed to a nine-minute exhibition of three rounds. However, at the initial press conference, the fight was billed as an official bout.

According to Mayweather, the fight is back on for New Year's Eve, and Nobuyuki Sakakibara, the head of Rizin Fighting Federation, which is promoting the fight, confirmed last week that Mayweather-Nasukawa will be a three-round exhibition.

Mayweather made about $220 million from his May 2015 fight with Pacquiao, which he won by unanimous decision. Pacquiao, who blamed his sub-par performance on a right shoulder injury, made around $180 million.

Pacquiao will return to the ring on Jan. 19 to defend the WBA "Regular" welterweight title, which he won on July 15 with a seventh-round knockout of Lucas Matthysse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, against Broner, who has won world titles in four different weight divisions.