Terence Crawford is no longer the WBC super middleweight champion. At the WBC convention in Bangkok, the sanctioning body officially removed the unbeaten 168-pound ruler from its throne, citing repeated non-payment of mandatory sanctioning fees.
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed that Crawford failed to pay the required $300,000 fee - just 0.6% of his $50 million purse - from his September victory over Canelo Alvarez in Las Vegas. According to Sulaiman, Crawford had also refused to pay fees stemming from his August 2024 win over Israil Madrimov at junior middleweight. “He forgot how he got to make $50 million,” Sulaiman said, describing Crawford’s actions as “a slap in the face.”
With Crawford officially stripped, the WBC board voted to elevate the scheduled clash between interim champion Christian Mbilli and England’s Hamzah Sheeraz into a full world title fight. Their showdown will now determine the new WBC super middleweight champion.
Lester Martinez was also approved as the next mandatory challenger. He is slated to meet the winner of Mbilli vs. Sheeraz once the new champion is crowned.
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