Shakur Stevenson is spilling all the details behind his feud with the WBC, and the organization may not like all that he has to say. The Mexico City–based sanctioning body, in a controversial move, wasted little time declaring Stevenson’s WBC lightweight title vacant after his impressive win over Teofimo Lopez at 140 lbs in early February. The sanctioning body cited a rule that prevents a champion from holding a title in one division while reigning as a champion in another division for a different organization (WBO) without a “special event” sanction.

Stevenson had won Lopez’s WBO super lightweight title in that fight. He had been open to either defending his 140-pound belt or moving back down to defend his WBC lightweight title. However, soon after, Stevenson claimed the WBC had demanded $100K from him for the Lopez fight, despite the fight being for the WBO belt. When he refused to pay, the WBC moved to declare it vacant. Now, Stevenson has shed more light on the situation, and, according to him, the amount demanded by the WBC was actually $120,000.

Shakur Stevenson claims WBC and Terence Crawford’s feud made it worse for him

“The president for the WBC, before the fight with Teo got made, I called him,” Stevenson told the ‘7 PM in Brooklyn’ podcast. “And we had a conversation. I said, ‘I want to move up, but I want to move back down, for the Teo fight.’ He agreed. He didn’t say [anything] about no money, no nothing. After a couple of weeks in, after the fight got announced and stuff, he started emailing about $120,000. Mind you, I already paid $60,000 for keeping my (WBC) belt.

“I’m like, ‘Why the f—k would I pay double now because I’m moving up and you don’t have [anything] to do with my fight?’ After that, we answered the emails, we asked him, but I really know he started beefing with ‘Bud’ Crawford, and that’s when the $120,000 thing kind of came to fruition.”

It’s worth noting that late last year, Terence Crawford, a close friend and mentor to Shakur Stevenson, publicly slammed the WBC and its president, Mauricio Sulaiman, for demanding $300,000 in sanctioning fees for his bout with Canelo Alvarez in September last year. Crawford, of course, refused to pay the fees, in part because it was way more than what the other three sanctioning bodies had asked for. Soon after, the WBC moved to strip Crawford of the title. 

The Newark, New Jersey native has since been in a conversation to face Ryan Garcia, who currently holds the WBC welterweight title. However, it’s unclear what the future holds for Shakur Stevenson. While it appears WBC is getting away with what they did to ‘Sugar’, another sanctioning organization might not be so lucky after what they did to one of the biggest rising stars in the sport.

The IBF could be headed for a lawsuit

Dana White believes a legal battle with the IBF could be on the horizon after the sanctioning body declined to recognize Jai Opetaia’s Zuffa Boxing bout with Brandon Glanton. Speaking after the event, the head of Zuffa suggested the IBF’s actions appeared suspicious despite the promotion following the required procedures. 

Opetaia had already paid the sanctioning fee, and the IBF had even reportedly flown in supervisor Levi Martinez for the event, which left White questioning the organization’s surprising decision a day before the bout.

According to reports, the IBF president Daryl Peoples reportedly felt “disrespected” by how the IBF belt was positioned, as secondary to the Zuffa belt, during the final pre-fight press conference. As a result, the IBF immediately withdrew its sanction and sent its supervisor home, claiming Opetaia was participating in an unsanctioned contest for a non-complying rival title. 

“[Opetaia] paid his sanctioning fees. [The IBF] flew a guy out here,” Dana White exclaimed during the post-event press conference. “I see lawsuits coming, that’s what I see.”

White added that his promotion “did everything we were supposed to do,” while calling the entire situation “very odd, very unprofessional.”

It appears boxing’s sanctioning bodies have come under scrutiny. While Shakur Stevenson alone may not do much against WBC, the IBF should be worried because Dana White has an entire company behind him. What do you make of all this?