Unbeaten WBC welterweight beltholder Floyd Mayweather Jr. announced that he will pursue his eighth title belt over five weight classes against WBA junior middleweight titleholder Miguel Cotto in his next bout.

Mayweather-Cotto will take place on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Mayweather made the announcement during a licensing hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission on Wednesday.

All fighters’ licenses expire on Dec. 31 of every year, but in some instances a hearing may be required so that a fighter can make a case for his license being renewed.

Mayweather said that it was “fair” that he had to appear before the commission to explain his actions and his remorse as a result of a guilty plea to a charge of misdemeanor battery domestic violence and no contest on two counts of harassment in a case involving the mother of two of his children.

No one had expected Mayweather to encounter any difficulties with getting the license, and that turned out to be the case.

Mayweather is coming off of a fourth-round knockout of Victor Ortiz in September that earned him the WBC’s welterweight title belt, his seventh career crown.

Mayweather also has earned the WBC junior lightweight (Genaro Hernandez), WBC lightweight (Jose Luis Castillo), WBC junior welterweight (Arturo Gatti), IBF welterweight (Zab Judah), WBC welterweight (Carlos Baldomir) and WBC junior middleweight (Oscar DeLa Hoya) belts.

Cotto is a three-division title winner. The Puerto Rican veteran won the WBO junior welterweight title by knocking out Kelson Pinto, the WBA welterweight title with a TKO of Carlos Quintana, and the WBA 154-pound belt with a stoppage of Yuri Foreman.

WBC junior middleweight beltholder Saul “Canelo” Alvarez had been widely considered to be among the top choices for Mayweather.

Meanwhile, WBO welterweight titleholder Manny Pacquiao seems to be headed for a clash with WBO junior welterweight titleholder Tim Bradley on June 9, with the winner to face the winner of the proposed Lamont Peterson-Juan Manuel Marquez matchup.

Photo by Tom Hogan, Hogan Photos/Golden Boy Promotions

Lem Satterfield can be reached at [email protected]