Five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather has been stripped of the WBO welterweight belt won from Manny Pacquiao in May.
Mayweather claimed the WBO welterweight title when he outpointed Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in a 147-pound unification fight that shattered all financial records for a boxing match, including total gross, pay-per-view subscriptions, closed circuit revenue, live gate, foreign television sales and sponsorships.
Mayweather, who holds two other alphabet welterweight world titles, let come and go the 4:30 p.m. ET Friday deadline by which he had to pay a $200,000 sanctioning fee from the May 2 fight (for which he earned more than $220 million) and vacate the two junior middleweight titles he also holds.
Once the Friday deadline expired, the WBO sent the issue to its championship committee, which voted Monday afternoon to strip Mayweather of the belt for not complying with either request.
"The WBO has the utmost respect for Floyd Mayweather Jr. and all that he has accomplished during his storied career," the WBO wrote in its resolution. "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."
The Mayweather camp was displeased by the ruling.
"It's a complete disgrace," Mayweather Promotions CEO Leonard Ellerbe told ESPN.com. "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.
"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."[ESPN]
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