This episode, emerging from the WBC convention in Bangkok this week, is an unusual footnote on one of the greatest feats in boxing history: Crawford\u2019s masterclass against Canelo Alvarez<\/a> three months ago, when the American ventured two divisions above his previous maximum to become the first three-weight undisputed champion in the four-belt era. But he did not hold all four belts for long.<\/p>\n Just 81 days into his reign atop the super-middleweight division, the unbeaten Crawford was stripped of his WBC belt for failing to pay the body its sanctioning fees \u2013 allegedly for the Canelo fight and one previous bout. Such fees are a controversial staple of boxing, typically requiring athletes to pay around 3 per cent of their purse to a sanctioning body.<\/p>\n In the case of his fight with Canelo, Crawford earned around $50m, according to Sulaiman, who also said the WBC reduced his sanctioning fee to 0.6 per cent. Sulaiman also claimed the majority of this number \u2013 $225,000 of an overall $300,000 \u2013 would have gone to the Boxers Fund, a charity (formed by Sulaiman\u2019s late father Jose) helping fighters in need.<\/p>\n Sulaiman not only decried Crawford\u2019s move as \u201ca slap in the face\u201d but also bemoaned a lack of apology from the 38-year-old, prompting an incensed verbal missile from Crawford \u2013 the likes of which he never propels at his opponents. <\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Terence Crawford (right) outpointed the naturally-bigger Canelo Alvarez in a masterful win (AP)<\/p>\n \u201cWho the f*** you think I am?” Crawford said in a video posted to social media, filming himself in his car. \u201cBoy, you better slap your f***ing self, I ain\u2019t paying your ass s***. The f*** you talking about, pay you $300,000? What makes you so motherf*****g better than any of the other sanctioning bodies? Answer that question. Everybody accepted what I was giving them. The WBC, you think that you\u2019re better than everybody. You got the f***ing green belt, which don\u2019t mean f***ing s***.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want me to pay you more than the other sanctioning bodies,\u201d Crawford alleged, \u201cbecause you feel like you\u2019re better than them.\u201d <\/p>\n The Independent has contacted the WBC over this claim, which gave way to Crawford saying: \u201cYou can take the f***ing belt, it\u2019s a trophy anyway. [Why] the f*** am I paying you every time I step foot in the ring? I\u2019m the motherf****r that\u2019s putting my ass on the line, not you.\u201d<\/p>\n The WBC did take the belt, whose iconic green-and-gold design means little to Crawford. He suggested The Ring title, \u201cwhich is free\u201d, is the \u201creal\u201d belt, although the significance of the famous boxing magazine\u2019s strap is often debated. <\/p>\n Enjoy 185+ fights a year on DAZN, the Global Home of Boxing<\/p>\n Never miss a fight from top promoters. Watch on your devices anywhere, anytime.<\/p>\n Buy Now<\/a><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.<\/p>\n Enjoy 185+ fights a year on DAZN, the Global Home of Boxing<\/p>\n Never miss a fight from top promoters. Watch on your devices anywhere, anytime.<\/p>\n Buy Now<\/a><\/p>\n ADVERTISEMENT. If you sign up to this service we will earn commission. This revenue helps to fund journalism across The Independent.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n Crawford with all the major super-middleweight titles, including The Ring\u2019s belt (around his waist) and the green-and-gold WBC strap (Getty)<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, the WBC\u2019s belts are arguably seen as the most prestigious in the sport, and perhaps the super-middleweight version will mean more to Britain\u2019s Hamzah Sheeraz or interim champion Christian Mbilli, whom Sheeraz has been ordered to box for the vacant title<\/a>. Perhaps it will mean more to Lester Martinez, who is next in line for the winner of that bout, having drawn with Mbilli on the Canelo vs Crawford undercard.<\/p>\n That, at least, provides some clarity on what will follow this somewhat dizzying spell. But within that spell itself, who is in the right and who is in the wrong?<\/p>\n Maybe that depends on your view on sanctioning fees. There may be some fans out there who feel Crawford is sticking it to the man. There may be others who feel he is inadvertently denying a charity a considerable sum of money. There may even be those who feel Sulaiman\u2019s reference to this charity is a stick with which to beat the unbeaten boxer \u2013 a way of painting Crawford as the bad guy.<\/p>\n open image in gallery<\/p>\n WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Whichever way you lean, there is no doubt this is a strange, messy episode that reinforces boxing\u2019s recurring problem: its tendency to shoot itself in the foot. <\/p>\n Other key stories to emerge from the WBC convention have been: the body granting Oleksandr Usyk a voluntary title defence (which the heavyweight king may use to fight an undeserving Deontay Wilder<\/a>; a reported fight between the great Katie Taylor and UFC icon Ronda Rousey<\/a>; and Conor Benn being named the WBC\u2019s No 1 contender at welterweight<\/a>, despite his thin CV. <\/p>\n It might be said that the WBC is not the bastion of all that is good and moral in boxing. Maybe Crawford isn\u2019t, either. In any case, together they have appended an unwanted footnote to one of the most astonishing feats in boxing history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-324789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Terence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\u00c1LVAREZ-DERROTA_88198.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"DAZN](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/DAZN.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"Crawford](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Netflixs-Canelo-vs-Crawford-Fight-Night-pcim5frr.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"WBC](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Mauricio-Sulaiman.jpeg\")
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