At this point, it’s a full-blown escalation.
First, the WBC stripped Terence Crawford of his super middleweight belt this week for stiffing the sanctioning body of two fights’ worth of fees. Then, Crawford responded with an F-word-laced monologue.
And now, a TKO Group board member overseeing the new Zuffa Boxing promotion has piled on during a swarm of chummy media appearances, effectively arguing, “See, this is why we don’t need sanctioning bodies,” as he lobbies hard for Congress to revamp the federal regulations protecting boxers from manipulations by those who pay (and control) them.
Watching this all play out over the past 48 hours has made it clear that each side can either steadfastly remain committed to their version of the truth, or they can consider the others’ criticisms and strike a compromise.
Let’s start with Crawford.
No matter how tough he talks in defense of his decision to go delinquent on the sanctioning fees he knew were owed the WBC, the 38-year-old five-division champion has nevertheless been reduced to a pawn by Zuffa Boxing and its $10-million-per-year financial backer, Saudi Arabia’s Turki Alalshikh in this episode.
The point can be argued to infinity, I guess, but after years of falling in line with sanctioning-fee payments, Crawford suddenly adopting this defiant stance just as the men who paid and promoted his breakout September victory over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez move toward their new, anti-sanctioning-body promotion that is due to start in early 2026 reeks of a coordinated attack.
To accomplish its mission, Zuffa Boxing – led by UFC CEO/President Dana White, the close friend of President Donald Trump – needs to convince the Republican-led Congress to vote to approve the new Muhammad Ali “enhancement” act that will change existing rules and allow Zuffa Boxing to rank its roster of fighters and award belts to them while depriving fighters of pre-fight disclosures – a breakdown of how much the fighter is earning versus how much the promoter and others are making from the bout card.
Since Crawford’s Wednesday stripping in Bangkok, Thailand, and before Thursday’s congressional committee hearing on the proposed changes, WWE President and TKO Group board member and former television sports power agent Nick Khan has appeared and campaigned on schmoozing segments of the “Inside The Ring” show (Alalshikh owns Ring Magazine) along with ESPN’s “Pat McAfee Show” (ESPN is still UFC’s home) and Daniel Cormier’s UFC podcast (TKO controls the UFC).
Additionally, Ring Magazine has furthered the campaign with social media dispatches critical of WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman’s sanctioning fees while noting that The Ring’s belt – reserved for a division’s lineal champion – does not charge fees.
Like ProBoxTV’s Paulie Malignaggi said on Thursday, The Ring is also a toothless entity in comparison to the powers wielded by the four sanctioning bodies.
BoxingScene requested an interview Thursday with Khan to address other topics on this proposed legislation change but did not immediately hear back from him.
Khan complained to “Inside The Ring” host Max Kellerman and McAfee that Sulaiman requested a hotel suite and an “ample number of [front row] tickets” to attend Crawford’s September upset of Canelo Alvarez at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
“It all seems quite odd that a sport would be run that way,” Khan told McAfee, likening the subsequent stripping of the belt to revoking a World Series trophy months after Game 7.
Crawford also ripped Sulaiman for racking up fight-week expenses that he believes are made entirely on the fighter’s back.
“It irks my nerves how this dude [Sulaiman] gets on a plane, gets a hotel suite – him and his buddies – they go out to dinner [five-star meals, all that], and guess who’s got to pay for it?” Crawford said. “Us fighters…We’re paying for y’all to…have the time of your life, and it’s all done on our dime.”
In this case, however, Sulaiman gifted Crawford a Beverly Hills jeweler’s specially designed ring for the Alvarez victory, valued at more than $100,000, and instead of charging the Nebraskan the typical 3 per cent sanctioning fee, he reduced the percentage on Crawford’s $50 million purse to 0.6 per cent – $300,000.
Of that $300,000, 75 per cent was to be earmarked toward a fund in Sulaiman’s father Jose’s name, which benefits ailing fighters.
“I ain’t paying your ass shit,” Crawford said in his Instagram post, making it clear that The Ring belt is the “best” belt because there’s no fee.
Yet if Crawford’s concern is questionable discretionary spending by those profiting off fighters, will that same outrage exist if the reports of White’s wild Las Vegas table gambling habits continue when Zuffa Boxing launches?
Is Crawford going to raise a stink that another corporate head has enough money to burn to savor daily morning massages?
Certainly not, which makes the credibility of this well-coordinated effort so dubious.
Khan is able to say for now that Zuffa’s streaming deal with Paramount+ starting next year empowers the organization over competitors.
Premier Boxing Champions is with Prime Video, Golden Boy Promotions is on DAZN, and Top Rank is still without a broadcaster after losing ESPN in July, hoping to have a deal in place by the end of January.
“If you want to actually become a star…in fights that will ultimately make you a lot of money, come this way,” Khan said to Kellerman.
Kellerman later commented, “You guys have an idea that seems to be dangerous to the status quo, and the defense of the status quo is absurd because boxing in the US has been completely marginalized.”
“That’s correct,” said Khan, who projects that the Paramount+ live fight coverage and social media exposure for Zuffa Boxing fighters will help change that.
“I don’t care what any of the other promoters are doing. I don’t care what the sanctioning groups are doing. What I care about is putting on the best product for the fans, having the right fighters with us, elevating the sport.”
He said making “competitive fights with fighters who start to become known,” is essential for Zuffa Boxing’s first year.
But what Khan and others supporting the new Ali Act are downplaying beyond their new ability to slip the fighter pay disclosures is the pay scale they will provide for their fighters who begin realizing that anticipated success.
Will the purses for those come anywhere near what fighters of similar levels will earn for other promotions in boxing’s current free market?
The UFC’s decision to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by its MMA fighters for $375 million last year over suppressing fighter pay should have a chilling effect, say boxing industry officials and rivals urging boxers to resist Zuffa’s temptation of more early career money and some health-care protections in exchange for the restrictive effects of annual fight limits and pay increases based on victories.
Khan and others who criticize the WBC and three other boxing sanctioning bodies are absolutely correct to slam them for seeking sanctioning fees at nearly every turn among the sport’s 18 divisions – for interim and regional titles and a multitude of other belts.
Yet some of the WBC money is being directed to efforts that promoters, state commissions and other sanctioning bodies have fallen short of supporting.
And the question remains whether Zuffa Boxing is committed to the kind of undertakings the WBC displayed this week at its annual convention in Bangkok.
My BoxingScene colleague Matt Christie explored the serious interest respected WBC ringside physician Dr. Paul Wallace and others took on while addressing a possible return to same-day weigh-ins to address the brutal weight cuts and next-day rehydrating that can have a dangerous effect on fighters’ health.
The WBC is also addressing the damaging toll of sparring without reporting injuries/knockouts/knockdowns while also pressing for reforms of drug testing protocols.
Sulaiman sadly detailed how part of Crawford’s expected sanctioning body fee was to be targeted for the late middleweight title challenger Vanes Martirosyan, who died of skin cancer last month at age 39.
Instead, as the sides exploded in battle this week, with Sulaiman labeling Zuffa Boxing as a “bullying” menace intent to impose its will, and Zuffa countering that the sanctioning bodies have effectively destroyed the sport, the question is whether either will fully inspect the middle ground in pursuit of betterment of boxing and boxers?
Lance Pugmire is BoxingScene’s senior U.S. writer and an assistant producer for ProBox TV. Pugmire has covered boxing since the early 2000s, first at the Los Angeles Times and then at The Athletic and USA Today. He won the Boxing Writers’ Association of America’s Nat Fleischer Award in 2022 for career excellence.
