Ring Belt Only One That Matters After WBC Strip

Terence Crawford’s temper tantrum over being stripped by the WBC today included him praising The Ring belt, which he says is the “only belt that’s recognizable as a champion.”

In his mini-rant, Crawford argued that the Ring belt is the only one that’s important. However, the reality is that the Ring title is only essential for pound-for-pound status. It confirms P4P status only.

Negotiating Himself Out of Power

The other belts belonging to the IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO are recognized by fans as signifying who the champions are and their talents. Crawford needed to hold onto the WBC title to continue to be an undisputed four-belt champion to get the next gigantic payday.

A Legend Who Won’t Pay the Bill

Crawford’s value and marketability are higher if he has all four belts rather than just three. So, by being cheap and refusing to pay the WBC’s $300,000 sanctioning fee today, out of the $50 million Turki Alalshikh paid him, he shot himself in the foot, losing the title he would need to negotiate a better deal against Canelo Alvarez or whoever.

Crawford’s anger over being stripped by the WBC suggests that he cares very much about that belt. But he didn’t care enough to pay the $300,000 sanctioning fee to keep it.

During Crawford’s eight-minute rant today, he said the other three sanctioning bodies “accepted what I was giving them.” In other words, he negotiated the price with them. The WBC didn’t agree to have their price reduced, so Crawford is furious about losing the title that he needed.

Why the Ring Belt Suddenly Matters

“I’m still the champion in the division because you know why? The only belt that’s recognizable as the champion is the Ring belt, baby. That’s the number one belt in the division that trumps all belts, and guess what? It’s free,” said Terence Crawford on social media in today’s temper tantrum that he threw over the WBC stripping him of his 168-lb title after he chose not to pay the sanctioning fees to keep it.”

Crawford may be the champion with the other three belts, but he’s not the WBC champion. That’s the one he needed to be viewed as the undisputed. Given that he’s only fought the fading 35-year-old Canelo at 168, you can’t call Crawford the real champion at super middleweight.

Crawford fought a small, older fighter in Alvarez, who had carefully picked and chosen his opposition since becoming undisputed in 2021. He never fought David Benavidez, David Morrell, or any of the dangerous top contenders in the last four years.

Real 168 Sharks

For Crawford to be viewed as the champion at 168 in a real sense, he’d have to beat these contenders:

• Christian Mbilli
• Lester Martinez
• Osleys Iglesias
• Diego Pacheco
• Hamzah Sheeraz

“History has already been made, baby, the great. Like I said yesterday, I am a legend, and I’m going to leave y’all with that,” said Crawford.