Floyd
Mayweather has been stripped of the WBO welterweight title he won
against Manny Pacquiao – and has been bizarrely called out by Anthony
Mundine.
Mayweather
missed Friday's deadline to pay a $200,000 sanction fee to the WBO and a
committee voted to strip the 38-year-old of the title. It means that
Timothy Bradley Jnr is expected to be crowned champion after he
controversially beat Jessie Vargas for the interim title last month.
Mayweather still has 14 days to appeal but the decision is unlikely to be reversed.
Floyd Mayweather (centre) celebrates at friend and rap star 50 Cent's birthday party in Miami
50 Cent and Mayweather (right) share an embrace as the pair reconcile past differences to party together
50 Cent and Mayweather had a row last summer but are now reunited as the 'Money' team
Meanwhile, Anthony Mundine has openly challenged Mayweather to be his next opponent
Mayweather (left) has been stripped of the WBO title he won in defeating Manny Pacquiao
Australian Mundine has written an open letter challenging Mayweather to be his next opponent
The 40-year-old was a former Australian rugby league star before turning his attention to the ring
Timothy Bradley Jnr (left) is expected to be crowned WBO champion after defeating Jessie Vargas (right)
'The
WBO world championship committee is allowed no other alternative but to
cease to recognize Mr Floyd Mayweather Jnr 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 on
Monday.
'The
WBO has the utmost respect for Floyd Mayweather Jnr and all that he has
accomplished during his storied career. 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.'
Mayweather
is still welterweight and super-welterweight champion for the WBC and
WBA, even though boxers are not allowed to hold world titles in multiple
weight classes.
Mayweather
is expected to fight for the 49th and possibly last time in September
and Mundine – the mandatory challenger for the American's WBC
super-welterweight title – has taken the extraordinary step of writing
an open letter begging boxing's pound-for-pound king to pick him as his
next opponent.
Among various claims in the letter, Mundine says he is 'the uncrowned best athlete of all time'
Mayweather, no stranger to bold claims himself, was recently pictured wearing a patriotic outfit
Former
Australian rugby league star Mundine, the current WBC silver
super-welterweight champion, was due to fight Austin Trout in a
rescheduled bout but negotiations collapsed.
And now Mundine has challenged Mayweather to step into the ring and take on 'the uncrowned best athlete of all time'.
Addressing
Mayweather as 'My man Floyd', Mundine boasts 'I'm the wonder from down
under & the only one that can solve the mayvinchi code' before going
on to say the fight would be 50/50.'
Mayweather
has so far dismissed the chances of many high-profile names such as
Amir Khan, Gennady Golovkin, Kell Brook and Shawn Porter.
Instead,
Mayweather has continued to insist that he will fight either Karim
Mayfield or Andre Berto. But Mundine insists that as mandatory
challenger he should be considered.
He
said: 'I've got other attributes that none of these cats got! Makes for
a good boxing spectacle both in and outta the ring. Its what the boxing
fans need to see!
'You want show time – I am show time! Somebody the world needs to see! I'll give you a way better go than you been getting !
'It's
a 50-50 fight ! Best athlete v best fighter??? Both got fast feet fast
hands & fast mouth haha …or relinquish the Title as you're
preventing fighters like me in this position to take on the other
champions or the bigger names in sport!'
The boxing champion smiles while sat alongside Rhianna as the 2015 BET Awards in June
Mundine has a record of 47 wins and six losses since turning professional in 2000
Mundine
was the highest-paid player in the NRL when he switched to boxing in
2000 and – despite having no amateur experience – has amassed a
professional record of 47 wins and just six losses.
The
40-year-old has notable wins over Shane Mosley, Daniel Geale and Pablo
Daniel Zamora on his record but has lost to Joshua Clottey and Mikkel
Kessler during his career.
Mundine's
last bout in November 2014 saw him win a split decision over then
undefeated European champion Sergey Rabchenko to claim the WBC silver
super-welterweight title and become Mayweather's mandatory challenger.
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