According to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, the organizations responsible for those belts were kept at arm’s length once the event began. Keep talking The Ariel Helwani ShowSulaiman said the WBC, along with the WBO, WBA and IBO, had been denied credentials and blocked from the ring and other technical areas where sanctioning bodies typically operate on fight night.
“I was treated so badly in Las Vegas for Canelo vs Crawford,” said Sulaiman. “Me and the other three organizations, WBO, WBA, IBO, we didn’t even get credentials. We were told we couldn’t get in the ring. We weren’t allowed to go into the locker room. We weren’t allowed to be at the commission’s desk.”
Sulaiman said the issue was about how sanctions bodies functioned, not about status. He explained that officials attend major championship fights to work, not to observe, and that their presence in restricted areas is part of how title fights are administered.
“When we go to fight, we go to work,” Sulaiman said. “This is not a vacation or for fun or as a fan or reporter. They are fighting for our championships.”
Rather, Sulaiman said officials from the sanctioning body are treated as participants in the event’s operation rather than spectators.
“We were given a ticket to go into battle outside the technical zone, only with the general public,” he said, adding that no explanation was provided for the restrictions.
The episode fits Zuffa’s broader approach to boxing. The promotion has been open about its preference for a simplified structure built around fewer titles, borrowing heavily from the UFC model. It also questioned the value of various sanctioning bodies and explored changes to the Muhammad Ali Act that would allow greater central control. Those positions are well established. The difference here was how it was put into practice.
The irony is that Zuffa’s breakthrough boxing event hinged entirely on the undisputed format. Four belts were central to the promotion, the marketing and the meaning of the fight. Yet the administrators of those belts were treated as optional participants once the event was underway. The message was procedural rather than verbal. The titles were necessary. The bodies behind them were not.
There was no public confrontation and no on the record exchange of insults. Zuffa simply ran the event on his own instincts, introducing UFC-style operating rules into a boxing environment. Access was limited. Roles are slimmed down. Long-standing customs were set aside without explanation.
Sulaiman’s response since then has been measured. Despite his criticism of how the event was handled, he said he remains willing to work with Zuffa Boxing in the future, provided certain conditions are met.
“They are welcome if they want to have a unification fight, if they want to promote boxing,” said Sulaiman. “But they have to comply with the rules and the structure.”
That position suggests realism rather than escalation. Zuffa currently controls attention and momentum. The sanctioning bodies still control legitimacy when undisputed status is required. Neither side has complete leverage, even if the balance has shifted.
Canelo vs. Crawford showed just how far Zuffa Boxing is willing to push its operating model when given the stage. It also showed the limits of that model at this stage of its box expansion. Boxing’s traditional system was necessary to sell the night. It simply wasn’t invited to participate fully in how the evening unfolded.
As Zuffa stages more events and signs more high-level fighters, that tension will continue. The central issue will not be whether sanctioning bodies are necessary. It will be whether they are granted access when their involvement becomes unavoidable.
