by Cedric ‘BIG CED’ Thornton
December 4, 2025
Crawford responds, ‘What makes you better than any of the other sanctioning bodies? What makes you better than the WBO, the IBF, or the WBA?’
Undefeated boxer Terence Crawford had his World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight title stripped for failing to pay the sanctioning fees to the boxing organization.
The organization announced that the champion is no longer the super middleweight titleholder. The other titles he owns, the WBO, IBF, and WBA, are not affected by this decision. WBC stated that Crawford, almost three months after beating Canelo Alvarez to become the undisputed champion on Sept. 13, has still not paid the sanctioning fee of approximately $300,000. They noted that the cost is typically 3% of the fighter’s purse, but they chose to charge only 0.6% since he allegedly made $50 million from the bout.
WBC stated that 75% of the sanctioning fee would go to the José Sulaimán Boxers Fund, which the Nevada Community Foundation administers. The mission of the fund is to assist fighters worldwide who need humanitarian assistance.
They also put Crawford on blast, claiming he has failed to “comply with express mandates of the WBC Rules & Regulations.” He allegedly has not paid the Boxer’s Bout Fees for his last two fights against Israil Madrimov and Saúl Álvarez. After sending multiple communications to the boxer, his manager, and attorney, they say that they received no response from any of them, not even acknowledging the communication effort.
So, due to the non-payments and the lack of responses, the organization “had no choice but to act, considering Champion Crawford had received ample notification and multiple opportunities to address and resolve the situation.”
The boxer did respond in a profanity-laced social media video post. Apparently, his failure to pay is not because he doesn’t have the money, as evidenced by his $50 million purse, but because he felt the organization had the audacity to demand more than the other sanctioning bodies. During the video, he called out the WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman.
“I ain’t paying yo ass s**t!” he said in the video.
“What makes you better than any of the other sanctioning bodies? What makes you better than the WBO, the IBF, or the WBA? Everybody accepted what I was giving them, but you. You, the WBC, think that you’re better than everybody.”
WARNING: Adult language
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