The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has stripped Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the welterweight title he earned by defeating Manny Pacquiao during their box office smashing 'Fight of the Century' this past May.
The WBO says that the undefeated pound-for-pound king failed to pay the title's $200,000 sanctioning fee by the specified deadline of 4:30 PM ET on Friday, July 3, 2015. Mayweather must now vacate the title effective immediately. Fellow American Timothy Bradley Jr., who recently outpointed Jesse Vargas during their bout on June 27, 2015, will be the WBO's interim welterweight champion.
In an official statement to the press the WBO had this to say about the incident:
"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."
The WBO rules state that boxers are not allowed to hold belts in multiple weight classes simultaneously. Under normal circumstances, newly crowned champions have 10 days to decide which belt they choose to hold. In Mayweather's case, the WBO granted him 2 months to make his decision.
"The WBO has the utmost respect for Floyd Mayweather Jr. and all that he has accomplished during his storied career, Mr. Mayweather has always agreed with and understood that world championships have both privileges and responsibilities and that status as WBO champion is subject to and conditioned on compliance with the WBO rules and regulations."
During the aftermath of his victory over Pacquiao, Mayweather told the press that he may plan to vacate his other belts in order to give away to a generation of boxers:
"I'll talk to my team and see what we need to do. Other fighters need a chance. Give other fighters a chance. I'm not greedy. I'm a world champion in two different weight classes. It's time to let other fighters fight for the belt."
Mayweather said that his upcoming fight on September 12 will be the last of his storied career.
