Floyd Mayweather Jr. may eventually be stripped of the WBO Welterweight title that he won from Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao last May 2 for failing to comply with the sanctioning fee requirement.
Mayweather, who won the match against Pacquiao by unanimous decision at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, was required to pay the $200,000 fee by July 3 but failed to do so, according to ESPN.
The undefeated American boxer asked for an August 1 deadline instead, but the WBO stood pat on its decision to have Mayweather settle the fee by July 3.
Jose Izquierdo II, WBO general secretary, mentioned through Twitter that Mayweather needed to comply with the WBO rules by that date. Failure to do so would mean that Timothy Bradley Jr. would become the full champion.
At the moment, Mayweather Jr. holds multiple title belts, including the WBA and WBC welterweight belts and the WBA and WBC light middleweight belts.
Under WBO regulations, Mayweather is required to relinquish the 154-pound title belts since it stated in the regulations that "no WBO Champion may hold a non-WBO Championship in a weight class that is different from his WBO Championship" (which is 147 pounds).
Mayweather earlier said he would relinquish all belts before his planned September 12 fight against a yet-to-be-named opponent.
Among the names being floated right now include Amir Khan, Kell Brook and Timothy Bradley Jr. For his part, Mayweather mentioned Andre Berto and Karim Mayfield, though critics were assuming that the undefeated boxer was not serious.
Bradley is coming off a controversial victory by unanimous decision over Jesse Vargas. That win allowed Bradley to claim the interim WBO Welterweight title.
Whoever his opponent will be, Mayweather may be under a lot of pressure as he aims to win his last match to equalize the 49-0 feat of boxing legend Rocky Marciano.
