Floyd Mayweather has been stripped of the WBO welterweight title he won against Manny Pacquiao in May.
The 38-year-old unbeaten fighter failed to pay the WBO a £128,000 sanctioning fee by a July 3 deadline.
Mayweather had already been expected to relinquish the title, as fighters can’t hold world titles simultaneously in multiple weight classes, and having declared his plans to do so following his points victory against Pacquiao.
The man who calls himself The Best Ever had stated his willingness to do so, stating he would vacate all his titles in order to give younger fighters the chance to win belts.
But two months after boxing’s biggest ever pay-per-view extravaganza, Mayweather still hadn’t done so with any of his belts – until the WBO stepped in.
“The WBO World Championship Committee is allowed no other alternative but to cease to recognize Mr Floyd Mayweather Jr as the WBO welterweight champion of the world and vacate his title for failing to comply with our WBO regulations of world championship contests,” said a statement by the World Boxing Organisation.
It is against fighters to hold world titles in multiple weight classes and Mayweather holds the WBC and WBA world super welterweight titles also – meaning both are breaking their own rules by allowing him to continue as champion in both classes.
Usually champions are handed a 10-day period to decide which weight class to continue in by the WBO – Mayweather was given two months.
Nevertheless, Pretty Boy’s camp are unhappy with the ruling.
“It’s a complete disgrace,” Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN. “Floyd will decide what, or if any, actions he will take. But in the meantime he’s enjoying a couple of hundred million he made from his last outing and this has zero impact on anything he does.
“Floyd Mayweather has a great deal of respect for each and every organization, as he has always had in his 19-year career, but he will not be dictated to by any organization or person as it relates to his decision making.”
Culled from mirror.co.uk
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