Remember when 38-year-old “undefeated” Floyd Mayweather emerged victorious from the most lucrative fight in history aka the #FightOfTheCentury, beating Manny Pacquiao via a wide unanimous decision in Las Vegas? It seems like all of that was for, well, pretty much nothing.
Apparently, the World Boxing Organization (WBO) has stripped Floyd Mayweather Jr. of the welterweight world title he earned when he defeated Manny Pacquiao.
Mayweather, whose victory in the fight earned him $200 million, failed to pay a $200,000 sanctioning fee he owed the WBO by a Friday (3rd July) afternoon deadline. He also failed to relinquish the junior middleweight title he held prior to the 2nd May fight, violating the WBO rule prohibiting its fighters from holding simultaneous titles in different weight classes.
According to ESPN, it is against sanctioning organization rules for boxers to hold world titles in multiple weight classes. The WBC and WBA had been breaking their own rules by allowing Mayweather to hold their titles, but the WBO upheld its rules. Typically, the WBO will allow a fighter 10 days to decide which weight class he wants to continue to hold the title in if he wins titles in multiple weight divisions.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. had 2 whole months to decide.
The WBO said in a statement:
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 Reuters, he has 2 weeks to file an appeal.
Boohoo. So much for the #FightOfTheCentury, eh?
After hearing that they're stripping Mayweather of his belt… #FloydMayweatherhttp://t.co/94qfixSFEe pic.twitter.com/jM7KGDbe4y
— 9GAG ❤️ Memeland (@9GAG) July 7, 2015
In other news, one good and extremely profitable thing did come out of the fight though!
According to CNN, tickets for the event sold out in minutes. Some were exchanging hands on the black market for as much as USD350,000 before the fight. Even closed circuit relays of the match in Vegas were reportedly selling for as much as USD3,500 a ticket, while millions of viewers (boxing fans and non boxing fans alike) tuned in from every corner of the globe on pay-per-view channels.
Sources: TIME, Reuters, ESPN, CNN / Featured image from ABC.
