Crawford officially stripped of WBC belt: Who becomes next titleholder
Terence Crawford (photo: instagram.com/tbudcrawford)
The World Boxing Council has stripped Terence Crawford of the WBC super middleweight title. The organization has already named the contenders who will fight for the vacant belt, The Ring reports.
WBC stripped Crawford of the super middleweight title
American champion Terence Crawford no longer holds the WBC super middleweight belt.
The organization took this decision due to unpaid fees, which are a mandatory requirement for maintaining champion status.
At the WBC convention, officials immediately determined who would compete for the vacated title.
The belt will be contested by undefeated British boxer Hamzah Sheeraz (23-0-1, 18 KOs) and Cameroonian knockout artist Christian Mbilli (30-0-1, 24 KOs).
In addition, Lester Martinez has been appointed the mandatory challenger for the future champion.
Mbilli has recently crossed paths with Ukrainian boxing: in August 2024, he defeated Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Crawford still leads the P4P rankings
Despite losing the title, Crawford remains in first place in the global P4P rankings.
He rose to the top after defeating Saul Alvarez, pushing Oleksandr Usyk out of the lead.
Fight with Canelo: How Crawford became undisputed
The bout between Saul Alvarez and Terence Crawford, which took place in Las Vegas, became a major event. At stake was the undisputed super middleweight championship, which Canelo held.
Crawford took a major risk by moving up two weight divisions to fight for a historic achievement. From the early rounds, he showed that he was ready for the new level.
All three judges scored the fight in Crawford's favor: 116–112, 115–113, 115–113. Terence became the undisputed champion in his third weight class, an unprecedented achievement in the four-belt era.
Who Terence Crawford is
Terence Crawford was born on September 28, 1987, in Omaha, Nebraska. He began boxing at age seven and turned professional in 2008.
He first won the WBO lightweight title and, in 2017, became the undisputed champion at junior welterweight, unifying all major belts.
In 2023, he repeated this achievement at welterweight, defeating Errol Spence and confirming his status as one of the best boxers of his generation.
Later, the American moved up to junior middleweight, where he also captured a world title. His victory over Saul Canelo Alvarez allowed him to set a historic record by becoming the undisputed champion at super middleweight.
Overall, Crawford has fought 42 professional bouts without a single loss, maintaining one of the cleanest records in world boxing.
Previously, we reported that Oleksandr Usyk considers Crawford the best boxer in the world, regardless of weight class.
Earlier, Crawford became involved in a scandal with American police.
