Terence Crawford created history just a few months ago after scoring a dominant win over Canelo Alvarez to become the undisputed super middleweight champion of the world. But while the boxing world was still trying to wrap its head around ‘Bud’s greatness and everything he had in doing so achieved inside the ring, his undisputed status slipped right out of his hands. In a sudden new twist, one of his four belts has now been stripped from him, leaving not just boxing fans but the entire combat sports world stunned. So what really happened?

On Wednesday, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman sat down with Terence Crawford in Thailand during the recent WBC convention to discuss the financial duties that come with being the champion. And as many feared, something unusual might come out of that meeting; it actually did. The sanctioning body decided to pull Crawford’s WBC title for not paying the required sanctioning fee — $300,000 from his $50 million purse.

Terence Crawford stripped of WBC title over unpaid sanctioning fee

According to Boxing Scene, Sulaiman expressed his disappointment with the things went. “The WBC was instrumental in making Crawford–Canelo. For making an event with multi-million dollars at stake. For both fighters’ life-changing money for their families and their next generations. We did many things, that ring that made news all over the world, made statues… just to receive a slap in the face, it is sad,” Sulaiman said.

For anyone unfamiliar with how sanctioning bodies work, organizations like the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF operate as non-profit organizations, but they still have expenses. From creating world title belts to paying everyone involved in approving a fight, the bill gets pretty heavy. To cover that, the sanctioning bodies involved usually take around 2–3% of the fighter’s purse combined.

Reports suggest Crawford refused to pay that to the WBC from his $50 million payday, which led to him getting stripped of the WBC belt and losing his undisputed status at super middleweight. And that’s not the only instance. As another BoxingScene report pointed out, Crawford also refused to pay the sanctioning fee to WBA after beating Israil Madrimov in August 2024, which might have played a role in this decision finally landing on him.

So what happens to the WBC belt now? Well, a big spectacle is already brewing to determine who picks up the strap now that ‘Bud’ no longer holds it. And by the looks of it, the super middleweight division is headed for a pretty wild shake-up.  

Christian Mbili vs Hamzah Sheeraz set for the vacant WBC belt 

Since Terence Crawford is no longer the WBC champion, a super middleweight clash between interim champ Christian Mbilli and England’s Hamzah Sheeraz now looks like the leading option for the vacant belt.

Mbilli just retained his interim title against Lester Martínez at the historic Canelo vs Crawford event, and as the reigning interim champion, it made perfect sense for the Cameroonian-French to slide into title contention. But instead of running back the Martínez rematch that ended in a majority draw, the WBC leaned toward giving Sheeraz the opportunity.

That brings us to the real question: what happens with Crawford now? For months, it looked like Terence Crawford vs Canelo Alvarez 2 was basically locked in for 2026, with both sides openly interested in running it back. But ‘Bud’ losing a major belt changes the picture completely. And with that unpaid $300,000 sanctioning fee hanging over him, it raises even more doubts about whether the rematch even gets approved.

So, with Crawford back in hot water in a conflict with the WBC, does he find a way out soon? And what’s the next move for him from here? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.