WBO President Francisco Valcarcel, Agree’s With Floyd Mayweather: “We have To Stop Now The Proliferation Of So-called World Titles”
By: Hans Themistode
After winning multiple world titles in five different weight classes, Floyd Mayweather Jr. went on an apoplectic rant on the number of belts that are currently circulating in the sport of boxing today. Following his fulmination, WBO president Francisco Valcarcel could only come to one conclusion.
Mayweather was spot on.
“Floyd Mayweather is right!” Said Valcarcel on his Twitter account. “We have to stop NOW the proliferation of so-called world titles.”
Mayweather’s diatribe was seemingly triggered as he watched 23 year old Teofimo Lopez make boxing history when he defeated unified lightweight belt holder Vasiliy Lomachenko to become the youngest undisputed champion just last weekend. When asked about his thoughts on their contest, Mayweather first took the time to congratulate Lopez on his tremendous win and applauded Lomachenko for his efforts.
The issue for Mayweather has nothing to do with the monumental win for Lopez, but with his own fighter in Gervonta Davis currently in possession of the WBA lightweight regular title, the future hall of famer has no problem naming him a unified champion, but until he faces the other titleholders in the division, he simply can’t say that Lopez is an undisputed champion.
“When we look at the lightweight division, Devin Haney is the WBC champion at lightweight,” said Mayweather. “Gervonta Davis is the WBA champion so now it’s safe to say that Teofimo is the WBO and IBF champion.”
More than anything, Mayweather has become sick and tired of watching every fighter pose with a championship title following a victory in the ring. Whether it’s the regular, super or the newly added Franchise title, Mayweather believes enough is enough.
“Everyone has a belt now,” said an exasperated Mayweather. “There’s too many champions in the sport of boxing right now. There’s no such thing as a super champion, not at all. I’m not taking anything away from any fighter but there are too many champions. The WBC, the WBA, the IBF and WBO ya’ll gotta clean this shit up. You guys are just taking extra money from these fighters.”
Although Mayweather has held the feet of the sanctioning bodies to the fire to end the proliferation of world of titles, Valcarcel believes everyone involved in the sport of boxing needs to come together in order to make a change.
“Sanctioning organizations, promoters, and boxing journalists must work together to stop this bullshit,” explained Valcarcel.