There's been a few. This sport, with its power and pugilism, stars sweaty and snarling as they dance beneath the lights, loves a classic story.

And what narratives are better to be spun than the faded star, ready to put body, mind and soul on the line for one last dance on the canvas?

Of course, that's the romantic cataclysm of this discipline, a world where pure intentions and mercenary instincts often make odd bedfellows.

News of Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao's rematch on Monday night seems, on the surface, an affair squarely driven by the latter.

Eleven years after they sought to claim the 'Fight of the Century' moniker from Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali, the pair will roll it back again.

It is a paradox of the greatest order. Mayweather Jr. has not fought professionally for nine years, since dismantling Conor McGregor in 2016.

Since then, he has taken a handful of exhibition bouts at home across the world, from Miami to Mexico City, Sunrise to Saitama and back.

He is reportedly still due to meet fellow aging superstar Mike Tyson in an exhibition bout this spring, an eyebrow-raising spectacle in itself.

There has been little clamour for his return. Forty-nine this week, he is at the age where most athletes should have long put their feet up.

JOHN GURZINSKI/AFP via Getty Images

At 50-0, his record stands as one of the most celebrated in the sport's history, a number the star has repeatedly professed satisfaction with.

On paper, there can only be one reason for Mayweather to agree to a fully sanctioned pro bout such as this - and it is a shedload of money.

His first bout with Pacquiao was, at the time, reportedly the most lucrative fight in history, a clash propped up by eye-watering sums of cash.

Never mind the fact that even then, it was already considered an encounter past its prime in terms of its star men, caught on the slow decline.

There theoretically can be little mitigation for this to be any better the second time around. Mayweather's skills will have undoubtedly dimmed.

Pacquiao, conversely, has at least seen action in recent times, having booked a bout with Mario Barrios last summer after four years away.

Outrage over an immediate shot at the then-WBC welterweight champion was fanned away by a performance that took his foe the distance.

Ryan Hafey/Premier Boxing Champions

But having sought to add yet another title to his glittering cabinet, there will be no major silverware - so far - at stake for the Filipino here.

Indeed, the only added caveat Pacquiao can have beyond Mayweather's apparent get-rich-quick incentive is to avenge his original defeat.

Maybe that is disingenuous however. Maybe the assessment of this spectacle as something driven purely by money does both no credit.

Because, at the end of the day, Mayweather and especially Pacquiao have fought long beyond the realm of their peers, past their peak years.

Sometimes, the incentive is not physical. Sometimes, the drive is purely emotional, perhaps even spiritual - a calling that cannot be ignored.

For all intents and purposes, something else beyond the materialistic opportunity presented has helped power Mayweather and Pacquiao here.

Call it fate. Call it luck. Call it karma. In September, Mayweather and Pacquiao, like many before them, will sucumb to the lure of one last dance.

Perhaps if they - and we - are lucky enough, what appears to be one of 2026's biggest bouts might recapture the magic for a fleeting moment too.

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