Mosley’s WBA belt won’t be on the line for Mayweather bout

By Eric Thomas: According to the latest boxing news, WBA welterweight champion Shane Mosley won’t have his World Boxing Association strap on the line for his May 1st bout against unbeaten Floyd Mayweather Jr. at the MGM Grand, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The reason is because the 33-year-old Mayweather reportedly didn’t want to pay the sanctioning fees for the belt. You can hardly blame Mayweather for not wanting to do that, because even if he wins the title, he likely won’t bother defending it against the top contenders that the WBA has lined up for him nor is Mayweather the type of fighter that likes to collect titles and brag about them as a status symbol.

It would have been a wasted $100,000 or so for Mayweather if he had gone ahead and paid the sanctioning fee for a title that he didn’t care about in the first place. The important thing when you get as popular as Mayweather is right now is fighting the top fighters in different divisions. Alphabet titles are virtually meaningless when a fighter has built up an impressive resume and a large fan base.

So if Mayweather beats Mosley on May 1st, Mosley’s WBA title will become vacant instead of going to Mayweather, and if Mosley beats Mayweather, Shane will keep his WBA title. The interesting part is that if Mosley ends up getting beaten by Mayweather, he will likely be the one fighting for the vacant WBA title in his next fight, if he still desires the strap for some reason. Mosley would probably be better off forgetting about it and trying to go after WBC welterweight champion Andre Berto instead for a good money fight. That would be far more interesting than facing one of the WBA contenders for the title.