Pacquiao relinquishes lightweight belt

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Manny Pacquiao relinquished his World Boxing Council lightweight belt Tuesday in a letter to WBC President Jose Sulaiman.

Pacquiao, regarded as boxing’s top pound-for-pound fighter, won the belt last summer by knocking out David Diaz, but he hasn’t fought at 135 pounds. He defeated Oscar De La Hoya by TKO after eight rounds in December, and scheduled a May 2 140-pound fight against England’s Ricky Hatton.

He said he was notifying Sulaiman ‘to pave the way for a new champion and provide opportunities and success for other fighters in the lightweight division.’

Boxers knew this day was coming. Golden Boy Promotions has scheduled a ‘lightweight lightning’ event for April 4 in Austin, Texas, a four-bout card that will include unbeaten Venezuelan Edwin Valero fighting Antonio Pitalua for the vacant WBC Interim world lightweight title.

-- Lance Pugmire