Floyd Mayweather has been stripped of the World Boxing Organisation welterweight title that he won in the victory over Manny Pacquiao in May, after failing to pay a mandatory sanction fee.
The 38-year-old Mayweather did not pay the $200,000 (£130,000) fee before Friday’s deadline, with the payment supposed to be taken from the fight’s reported $300 million (£192 million) purse.
Having missed the final deadline for the fee to be paid, the WBO has stripped Mayweather of the welterweight title and stopped acknowledging him as their champion.
Mayweather retains his welterweight and super welterweight championships with the WBC and WBA respectively, although the WBO has asked him to relinquish the titles as boxers are forbidden from holding championships across more than one weight category.
A statement published on wboboxing.com on Monday read: “In the present case, Mr Mayweather Jr failed to pay the 200,000 US dollar fee required of him as a participant of a WBO World Championship Contest.
“Despite affording Mr Mayweather Jr the courtesy of an extension to advise us of his position within the WBO Welterweight Division and to vacate the two 154-pound world titles he holds, the WBO World Championship Committee received no response from him or his legal representatives on this matter.
“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.
“This is a final decision of the WBO World Championship Committee. The affected WBO Participant may appeal to the Complaint and Grievance Committee pursuant to WBO World Championship Section 34, which per Rule 3(e) of the WBO Appeals Regulation, must be submitted in writing to the WBO President within 14 days of the date of this decision as its sole and exclusive remedy.”
Mayweather beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision on May 2 this year in the biggest fight ever seen in terms of money generated, and while a rematch has been mentioned, Mayweather is yet to announce who he will fight next – likely to come in early September.
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