By Gerardo Granados: After Floyd Mayweather Jr. vacated all his championship belts a new landscape can be draw at the welter and light middleweight divisions, but who and how will it be fulfilled might be up to big promoters and influential TV Networks and not just up to the deserving contenders.

To be fair the top two contenders available who are highest ranked by an organization should get a shot at the vacant belt but with all the “interim, silver and regular” belt holders some could be promoted to the full organization champion status without even the need to fight for it.

It is a shame that Manny Pacquiao will be out of action for so long but Mother Nature knows when it’s time for an old lion to be replaced by the new blood. It’s weird to see Floyd Mayweather to vacate both division championship belts, maybe he has no interest in them and plans to go to the middleweight division but that is purely speculative talk.

The WBC welter silver belt holder is Amir Khan but it would not be a surprise to see the organization to order an elimination bout after another until an influential promoter arranges a fight for such belt. According to the last ranking the top two WBC welters are Amir Khan (also number one) and Antonin Decaire ranked number two. The WBC silver super welter belt holder is Anthony Mundine and number one ranked is Saul Alvarez.

The WBA “world” welter belt holder is the young lion Keith Thurman; maybe he deserves to get the status of full champion, after all others have received the benefit too. On number one and also the interim belt holder is Andre Berto and on second spot is Amir Khan.

The WBA “world” light middleweight belt holder is Erislandy Lara who lost to Canelo Alvarez but his belt was not on the line so he kept his status as belt holder. He too could be promoted to the full status but having such small fan base, don´t be surprised to see him be forced to fight the mandatory challenger to determine the organization champion. Can the reader remember how many elimination bouts Lara fought before he finally got the chance to dispute the Championship Title? The official challenger spot is vacant and number two is Saul Alvarez.

The WBO welterweight belt is vacant so by rule the top two available contenders should get the shot but don’t be surprised if a undeserving fighter gets the chance instead of a boxer who has waited a long time but lacks the promoter leverage to arrange the deal for him. On number one Tim Bradley and Juan Manuel Marquez on the second spot.

At light middleweight who deserves the chance? Saul Alvarez, Anthony Mundine, Austin Trout and Jermell Charlo, all of them deserve to get a shot but the front runner due his vast fan base must be Canelo.

At welterweight who deserves it? The list is long: Marcos Maidana, Amir Khan, Robert Guerrero, Juan Manuel Marquez, Tim Bradley, Devon Alexander, Josesito Lopez, Diego Chavez, Shawn Porter are names to seriously consider, but also light welters can be added to the mix like Danny Garcia, Lucas Matthysse, Adrien Broner, Adrian Peterson, Ruslan Provodnikov and also Terence Crawford.

By the way how many of the boxers listed belong to Al Haymon? Maybe the best chance to win the vacant belt lottery is to have the correct ticket.

It would have been great to see any of them defeating Floyd to win his belt but not the less these weight divisions will make the news in the next months to come.
So, for the reader who will win the vacant belt lottery?