By Victor Salazar
New York - There hasn’t been a fighter more synonymous with the green belt this era than Floyd Mayweather, Jr (48-0, 26 KO’s). Mayweather currently holds the WBC world titles in the welterweight division and super welterweight division.
The president of the WBC Mauricio Sulaiman says the reasoning for a delay in Mayweather facing a mandatory challenger in either division is because the sanctioning body left the door open in order to allow Mayweather to face Manny Pacquiao.
“With all due respect to fans and fighters, we must understand that Manny Pacquiao was greater than any mandatory,” Sulaiman told BoxingScene.com. “The WBC’s position was to do whatever it takes to make the fight, to make Mayweather-Pacquiao happen. We got that accomplished. Our rules and records in our commission are completely open and the agreement was there. We were not going to put a mandatory that would stop that fight from happening.”
Mayweather will take on Andre Berto (30-3, 23 KO’s) on September 12th and after this fight Sulaiman says they will revisit the belt situation because of the uncertain future of Floyd Mayweather.
“We have our convention in China [in November] and that’s where we’re going to address the decision on both titles. We’ll see September 12th, it seems it’s his last fight. If true, we go on and have two separate open titles. Maybe he continues. We cannot set aside the great Floyd Mayweather. He has been the most loyal WBC champion, 26 title fights in 5 divisions. We have to respect it and make accommodations to make the best fights. There are rules we must adhere to but we can be flexible.”