By Rick Reeno
Last month at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Floyd Mayweather won a twelve round unanimous decision over Manny Pacquiao to unify the WBO/WBA/WBC welterweight titles.
At the post-fight press conference, Mayweather revealed his intention to vacate all three welterweights titles, and his WBA/WBC junior middleweight titles.
To date, Mayweather has not relinquished any of the five belts.
But, the World Boxing Organization announced that next Saturday's fight between Timothy Bradley and Jessie Vargas would have the "vacant" WBO world title at stake.
Mayweather questions how the WBO belt is at stake in Bradley-Vargas when he never vacated the belt. Actually, Mayweather indicates that he never received the belt from the WBO.
"I got belts I would like to relinquish that I haven't yet relinquished. I haven't yet got my WBO belt. How can I can relinquish something if I haven't received it. I've yet to receive my WBO belt. Once again I was on the podium...I said 'this week I believe that I would like to relinquish my belts and I want to relinquish my belts.' But I've still yet to receive my WBO belt. How is somebody fighting for something that I've yet to receive. These types of things happen in the sport of boxing," Mayweather said.
Mayweather's lawyer sent a letter to the sanctioning body, explaining their surprise that Bradley-Vargas was announced as a WBO title fight. The WBO gave Mayweather until the first week of July to decide if he intends to keep the title.