Terence “Bud” Crawford has seemingly taken a swift turn on his stance regarding the sanctioning bodies.
The recently retired, former five-division champion called for his stablemate Lester Martinez to be next line for the WBC 168lbs title he briefly held. Guatemala’s Martinez is likely to receive the call to rematch newly upgraded full titleholder Christian Mbilli,
“Give my bro Lester a title shot,” Crawford requested via social media. “Because he should be champion right now.”
There is a case to be made that Martinez, 19-0-1 (16 KOs) deserved the nod over Mbilli, 29-0-1 (24 KOs) in their first – and, so far, only – meeting. Their terrific 10-round slugfest ended in a draw, on the main undercard of Crawford’s historic unanimous decision win over Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, 63-3-2 (39 KOs) last September 13 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada.
With the win, Crawford, 42-0 (31 KOs) exited the ring as the undisputed 168lbs champion. However, his reign was splintered less than three months later when the WBC stripped him for failure to honor their sanctioning fee agreement.
Crawford took to social media at the time to put the WBC on blast, bluntly stating that the fighters make the title and not the other way around.
"I see Mauricio got a lot to say about me not paying him $300,000 plus another $100k something for sanctioning fees,” Crawford stated at the time. “Then he's going to tell me, I ain't even apologize. Like, who the fuck do you think I am? Boy, you've got to slap your fucking self. I ain't paying your ass shit. What the fuck you talking about, pay you $300,000? What makes you so motherfucking better than any of the other sanctioning bodies?
“Huh? Answer that question. What makes you better than the WBO, the IBF, or the WBA? Everybody accepted what I was giving them, but… the WBC, think that you better than everybody? Don't you? You got the fucking green belt, which don't mean fucking shit.
“The fucking real belt is the Ring belt, which is free, motherfucker. [What are] you talking about? You want me to pay you more than the other sanctioning bodies because you feel like you're better than them? How in the world? All the sanction bodies agreed to the same amount, but you sit your motherfucking ass up there and say that I need to apologize to you. The fuck? You can take the fucking belt. It's a trophy anyway. [Why] the fuck am I paying you every time I step foot in the fucking ring?”
It seems that the same wouldn’t apply to Martinez for the moment.
Martinez - who is trained by Brian “Bomac” McIntyre, Crawford’s career long trainer – has not fought since his abovementioned clash with Mbilli. He was due to return to the ring in March; however, that timeframe was offered when it was believed that Mbilli would next face England’s Hamzah Sheeraz, 22-0-1 (18 KOs) for the vacant WBC 168lbs title.
WBC’s Board of Governors have since canceled that previously ordered bout, since Sheeraz is (likely) going the WBO route.
The sanctioning body acknowledged that Martinez’s status needs to be reviewed, which could ultimately lead to Mbilli being ordered to enter talks for a rematch. This time around, it would for 12 rounds and with the full title at stake.
