Ring Belt Only one that matters after WBC streak

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

In his mini-rant, Crawford argued that the Ring belt is the only one that matters. However, the reality is that the Ring Title is only essential to pound-for-pound status. It only confirms P4P status.

Bargaining Himself out of Power

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

A legend that won’t pay the bill

Crawford’s value and marketability is higher if he holds all four belts rather than just three. So, through be 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 and lost the title he needs to negotiate a better deal against Canelo Alvarez or whoever.

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

During Crawford’s eight-minute briefing today, he said the other three sanctioning bodies “accept what I give them.” In other words, he negotiated the price with them. The WBC did not agree to their price being lowered, so Crawford is furious at losing the title 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. It’s the number one belt in the division that trumps all belts, and guess what? It’s free,” said Terence Crawford. social media in today’s tantrum he threw at the WBC, stripping him of his 168-pound title after he chose not to pay the sanctioning fees to retain it.”

Crawford may be the champion with the other three belts, but he is not the WBC champion. This is the one he needed to be considered the undisputed. Since he first fought the waning 35-year-old Canelo at 168, you can’t call Crawford the real super middleweight champion.

Crawford was fighting a small, older fighter in Alvarez, who has been picking and choosing his opposition carefully since going undefeated 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 considered the champion at 168 in a real sense, he will have to beat these contenders:

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

“History has already been made, baby, the big one. Like I said yesterday, I’m a legend, and I’m going to leave you with that,” Crawford says.