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The highly-coveted welterweight world title that Floyd Mayweather Jr. earned two months ago after defeating Manny Pacquiao has been taken away by the World Boxing Organization (WBO).
The WBO decided to strip Mayweather of the title after the richest athlete in the world missed paying a $200,000 sanctioning fee from the Pacquiao fight by their Friday afternoon deadline. Moreover, the Pound-for-Pound king also failed to vacate the junior middleweight title he held.
In a statement, the WBO said, “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.”
According to the WBO rules, boxers must not hold titles in multiple weight classes. In the case of Mayweather, the boxer had to choose which weight division he would retain.
Camp of Mayweather Not Happy with WBO’s Decision
Speaking to ESPN.com, Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe admitted that they are not happy with WBO’s decision and that Mayweather “will not be dictated to by any organization.”
“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,” Ellerbe stressed.
Dubbed as the “Fight of Century,” the boxing match between Mayweather and Pacquiao generated a record-breaking pay-per-view revenue of $400 million in the US. Mayweather took home $200 million from the fight.
Featured image credits to Metro UK.
