BANGKOK, Thailand – The WBC on Wednesday stripped its belt from undisputed 168lbs champion Terence Crawford, calling the fighter’s non-payment of sanctioning fees from his last two bouts “a slap in the face.”
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman read from a news release detailing that the unbeaten Crawford, after defeating Canelo Alvarez in September in Las Vegas, stiffed the sanctioning body of $300,000 in sanctioning fees – 0.6% of his $50 million purse – after previously denying payment from his August 2024 victory over Israil Madrimov down at junior middleweight.
“He forgot how he got to make $50 million,” Sulaiman said.
The WBC board then voted to make a meeting between interim champion Christian Mbilli and England’s Hamzah Sheeraz a title fight for the nowvacant belt.
Lester Martinez, who fought Mbilli to a draw on the Crawford-Alvarez card, is in line to fight the Mbilli-Sheeraz winner, the board voted.
BoxingScene will have more on this as events develop.
