By Mark Vester
Several weeks ago, the World Boxing Council gave Floyd Mayweather, Jr. a decision to make, keep the the welterweight title or the junior middleweight title - but not both.
Until recently, Mayweather was the reigning WBC 147 and 154-pound champion.
No more.
Mayweather has announced his decision to vacate the WBC junior middleweight title that he won from Oscar De La Hoya on May 5 in Las Vegas, and move back down to the welterweight limit of 147-pounds.
According to boxing writer Kevin Iole , the July 28 bout between former champions Vernon Forrest and Carlos Baldomir, originally scheduled for a WBC interim title, will now be for the vacant WBC junior middleweight title. Forrest-Baldomir will be televised live on HBO from the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington.
"He wasn't going to be able to defend both and so by doing this, it gives some other guys an opportunity to win a title," Leonard Ellerbe, Mayweather advisor, told Iole. "Floyd's only looking to fight in mega-events anyway and he's got a lot of options."
Forrest and Baldomir are not the only fighters to be affected by Mayweather's decision. Shane Mosley, who won the WBC 147-pound interim title when he beat Luis Collazo in February, will now lose that status because Mayweather decided to keep his welterweight title.
Mayweather's decision further opens the door for a potential showdown with undefeated junior welterweight Ricky "Hit Man" Hatton.
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