Floyd Mayweather To Vacate All Of His Titles To ‘Give Other Fighters A Chance’
Floyd Mayweather is coming off possibly the biggest win on his professional career, defeating Manny Pacquiao, who many thought would be the one to finally be able to defeat the undefeated Mayweather. In the process of defeating Pacquiao, Mayweather acquired the WBO Welterweight Championship to his résumé. But, it appears that Mayweather won’t be keeping the WBO Welterweight Title, or any of his titles for that matter, as he announced that he plans to vacate all of his championships before his retirement fight in September.
Mayweather, 38, feels that it’s time to vacate the belts and give the other fighters a chance to fight for them. Mayweather holds titles in two weight classes, and he feels that — due to his plans to retire after his fight in September — now is the time to vacate his titles.
“I decided backstage that will I will give them up. I don’t know if that will happen on Monday or maybe a couple weeks. I’ll talk to my team and see what we need to do. Other fighters need a chance. Give other fighters a chance. I’m not greedy. I’m a world champion in two different weight classes. It’s time to let other fighters fight for the belt.”
Even though Mayweather is planning on vacating the titles, he still promises that his next fight will be scheduled for 12 rounds, as all title fights are.
“My last fight will still be a championship fight over 12 rounds, but there won’t be any belts.”
Nobody knows exactly who Mayweather’s next opponent will be. There have been rumblings of a Manny Pacquiao rematch, but there’s a feeling that the boxing fans don’t want to see them go at it a second time after this past Saturday’s “fight of the century” didn’t quite live up to the hype.
Three other names have been thrown around as a potential final opponent for Mayweather. One is a name that has been brought up over the last two years, that being Amir Khan. However, Mayweather would want to fight him in September, and Khan — who is Muslim — won’t be able to fight in September because of Ramadan. But, Khan is open to fighting Mayweather at any other time.
“I can’t do September because of Ramadan. It just depends on my schedule this year but if we can do this year or early next year I will definitely jump to it.”
The second name is the undefeated Keith Thurman, who isn’t a household name, but, many people feel that Thurman is one of the only fighters who can defeat Mayweather. Thurman, 26, has record of 25-0-1, with 21 of his wins coming by way of knockout. Thurman could very well be the best young fighter in the sport, and if he’s able to defeat Mayweather on his way out, there’s no question that it would be great for the future of boxing.
The third and final name is someone who has fought Mayweather in the past, and that someone is Miguel Cotto. Back in May of 2012, Cotto possibly gave Mayweather his toughest fight, but lost via unanimous decision. However, Mayweather felt Cotto’s power, as it was one of the few times that Mayweather was busted up and bloody.
There’s an outside chance that Mayweather’s fight in September won’t be the final fight of his career, and that he’s just saying that it is so that when he becomes a free agent, HBO or Showtime will offer him another gigantic contract in an attempt to convince him to fight again. But, as of right now, nobody really knows what the future holds for boxing’s pound-for-pound king.
[Image via Al Bello / Getty Images]
