Floyd Mayweather Stripped Off The Title He Won in Manny Pacquiao Fight
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
has been stripped of the welterweight world title he won after beating
Filipino Manny Pacquiao this year for failing to comply with rules, the
World Boxing Organization said on Monday.
Mayweather, who improved to 48-0 by beating Pacquiao in May, missed a
deadline by which he had to pay a $200,000 sanctioning fee from the
fight and vacate the junior middleweight title he also held, the WBO said in a statement.
The WBO said it is against the rules for
boxers to hold world titles in multiple weight classes and that
Mayweather had to indicate which weight division he would retain.
Mayweather, who finished ahead on all
three scorecards of what proved to be the top-grossing prize fight of
all-time, had until 4:30 p.m. ET (2030 GMT) last Friday to advise the
WBO of his position.
“The WBO World Championship Committee is
allowed no other alternative but to cease to recognise 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 said in a statement.
Mayweather, who earned over $200 million
from the fight which generated a record pay-per-view revenue in the
United States of $400 million, has two weeks to launch an appeal.
