Once upon a time, Floyd Mayweather was going to vacate his welterweight title to give younger boxers a shot at the belt. Now, the World Boxing Organization might do it for him.
Mayweather announced after his victory over Manny Pacquiao on May 2 that he’d relinquish his belts, saying “other fighters need to get a chance. I’m not greedy. I’m a world champion at two different weight classes right now. … It’s time to let other fighters fight for the belts.”
But apparently, he did get greedy, and he still hasn’t given up his three welterweight titles or his junior middleweight title.
WBO president Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel told ESPN.com that Mayweather’s title could be stripped as early as Monday.
Mayweather was supposed to pay a $200,000 sanctioning fee for the belt, too, and that deadline passed Friday. What’s more, the WBO isn’t willing to break its own rules (like the WBC and WBA) to allow the boxer to hold titles in two weight classes.
It’s been an increasingly frustrating situation for the organization, as they had billed the latest welterweight bout between Timothy Bradley and Jessie Vargas as a title fight after Mayweather’s initial announcement. The WBO had to reduce it to an interim title fight after Mayweather failed to relinquish the belt.
Thumbnail photo via Gary A. Vasquez/USA TODAY Sports Images
