The tentative cease fire between warring Mayweather and Pacquiao factions has completely fallen apart in the wake of the mega-fight and animosity is greater now than ever before, with Mayweather calling Pacquiao a liar and a coward for mentioning his shoulder injury.
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I watched the fight over and over again, ‘ he said, ‘Without being biased – in addition to the four rounds that (two) judges gave Pacquiao – I gave him the second.
Amir Khan reckons Floyd Mayweather could destroy his legacy by refusing to fight him. After Mayweather’s pronouncement, the WBO sanctioned the June 27 fight between ex- titleholder Timothy Bradley Jr. and junior welterweight titlist Jessie Vargas for its vacant welterweight title. So on Monday, the Puerto Rico-based organization stripped Mayweather of its title.
Retirement it seems is not an option for Pacquiao, who was mocked by Mayweather in a widely circulated social media video last week that saw Floyd slapping around a dummy and poking fun at the shoulder injury. He has fallen just short at the elite level against Danny Garcia, Devon Alexander and Zab Judah, but showed a versatile boxer-puncher approach in his last fight, a majority decision win over Pacquiao’s training mate Ruslan Provodnikov in April. Mayweather can not hold titles in multiple wait classes and he has not vacated the titles for WBC and WBA junior middleweight championships. I’m not greedy. I’m a world champion at two different weight classes right now.
Mayweather failed to pay the $200,000 sanction fee required by the World Boxing Organization for the belt he won on May 2 when he defeated Manny Pacquiao at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas by the deadline, which was the end of the business day on Friday. “I don’t know if it will be Monday [May 4] or maybe a couple weeks”, Mayweather said in the news conference.
So who gets the title now?
The remarks might not damage the body like a left hook, but they might just be enough to damage arguably Mayweather’s most prized possession; his ego.
ESPN.com’s Dan Rafael was the first to report that the World Boxing Organization officially made a decision to take back its 147-pound belt from the undefeated Mayweather.
But since it’s Mayweather- who has said he plans to retire after a fight in September- it matters.
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Mayweather Sr.is “very anxious as well”, said Khan, if their recent conversation is anything to go by.
