Washington (AFP) - Floyd Mayweather was Monday stripped by the World Boxing Organization of the welterweight world title he won by beating Manny Pacquiao two months ago in what was dubbed "the fight of the century".
Mayweather had failed to meet the deadline last Friday for paying the $200,000 sanctioning fee required by the WBO after he took the belt from Pacquiao on May 2 in Las Vegas, in the richest fight of all time, earning a reported $220 million in the process.
WBO rules require boxers to pay 3 percent of their purse to fight for a world title up to a maximum of $200,000.
The rules also prohibit WBO champions to hold any belts in any other weight divisions. Mayweather is currently also the WBC and WBA champion at junior middleweight (154lb), as well as at welterweight (147lb).
A statement on the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning body's website confirmed that Mayweather, regarded as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, was no longer the WBO champion.
He knows he's the best, he's proved himself, so I guess he just doesn't care about the belt.
Still you'd think the $200.000 would be small change to him and he'd have just paid it.
