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11/02/2024 05:31:07 pm

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Boxing News & Rumors: WBO Strips Floyd Mayweather Jr. Of Welterweight Belt

Floyd Mayweather Jr.

(Photo : Getty Images) Pound-for-pound king Floyd Mayweather Jr. and his plethora of belts.

The World Boxing Organization stripped pound-for-pound megastar Floyd Mayweather Jr. off the welterweight belt he won from Filipino pugilist Manny Pacquiao during the lackluster "Fight of the Century" on May 2. According to ESPN's Dan Rafael, the reason for the removal was Mayweather's "failure to comply with the organization's rules."

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The five-division world champion, who also holds the WBC and WBA junior middleweight belts, was asked by the WBO to pay a sanctioning fee of $200,000 for his welterweight crown and to also relinquish his two other titles to continue to be acknowledged by the organization.

Immediately after the Pacquiao fight, Mayweather had said that he was willing to vacate his titles and "give other fighters a chance" to win them, via The Guardian. As always, Floyd backtracked on his word and decided to keep all of his belts.

SB Nation's Bad Left Hook reported that WBO gave him a July 3 deadline to let go of his welterweight band. On Monday, three days after the deadline, it was confirmed that the sanctioning body officially negated his title and gave it to Timothy Bradley.

Bradley is the WBO interim welterweight champion after his unanimous decision victory over Jessie Vargas on June 27.

"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 sanctioning body said in a ruling released on Monday.

It is counter to WBO's rules that a fighter holds multiple belts in different weight classes. The WBC and WBA had allowed the pay-per-view king to break their guidelines, but the WBO was firm to maintain theirs.

Expectedly, the unbeaten American's camp was upset with the decision.

"It's a complete disgrace," said Leonard Ellerbe, CEO of Mayweather Promotions. "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."

Usually, the WBO gives boxers ten days to decide in what weight class he wants to stay, but in the case of the highest-paid athlete in the world, they gave a two-month extension. Apparently, the organization could wait any longer and decided to take matters into their own hands.

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