Monday 8 April 2019 08:20, UK
Manny Pacquiao has followed Floyd Mayweather Jr by signing with Japanese company Rizin.
Rizin are the mixed martial arts organisation that put together Mayweather's exhibition fight with kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa in Tokyo on New Year's Eve 2018.
Mayweather easily beat Nasukawa in the first round of the boxing match, and Pacquiao could face the kickboxer in the ring after the Japanese fighter recently signed a new deal with Rizin.
Rizin's chief executive officer Nobuyuki Sakakibara announced the news on Monday by posting photographs on Twitter of the 40-year-old eight-division world champion signing a contract.
"Im here in the Philippines," wrote Sakakibara.
"RIZIN.15 will have this man involved in a way. We will be ready to announce as I get back to Japan!"
He did not specify in what capacity Pacquiao would be involved in the event scheduled for April 21.
Pacquiao's last fight was a unanimous decision victory over American Adrien Broner in January.
Mayweather, who beat Pacquiao in a drab 2015 bout, came out of retirement briefly to beat Nasukawa in the main event of Rizin's prestigious New Year's Eve show.
