WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has hit out at the IBF’s decision to strip Terence Crawford of his belt at 147.

The news came after Crawford became the first undisputed welterweight champion of the four-belt era. He stopped Errol Spence Jr. and dominated the welterweight to knock him down three times before the referee stopped the bout in the ninth round. The win made Crawford the first male boxer to become undisputed in two weight classes.

After the victory, Spence exercised his rematch clause, with the date and weight class up for discussion. At the same time, Jaron Ennis was the IBF interim champion. Under the IBF rules, boxers must defend their belts against the interim champion in their first defense or be stripped. Crawford was stripped since he was required to face Spence under his contract due to their rematch. Ennis became the new IBF champion, leaving a bitter taste in Crawford’s mouth.

Crawford On The IBF

"Man, f— the IBF! That’s what I say. You know what I mean? F— the IBF and they organization. I don’t give a f— about, you know what I mean, the IBF. They stripped me damn near 2½ months after [I won] my title, not knowing what was gonna happen next. But it’s cool, though. I’m not mad at ‘em, you know? I got what I needed, and that was, you know, undisputed. And the rest is history. You know, I don’t care about none of that," Crawford said 

Now, those words have been added to by the WBC President. 

Sulaiman On The IBF

"As a fan, I’m sick. The WBC has been trying to get Spence versus Crawford for three or four years. So we kept no mandatories in line that would hurt the process. Then we have an interim champion so the activity will continue. How can you go against Crawford? How can you go against the winner of [the heavyweight undisputed fight between Tyson]Fury-[Oleksandr] Usyk?" Sulaiman stated

The decision only goes on to harm boxing in the long run. The increasing number of belts in the sport has increased mandatory obligations. But doing so, it has also increased the number of sanctioning fees that fighters must pay. This has created a situation where currency is favoured over legacy, which may prevent the biggest fights from being made.

If fighters can be stripped over things that are not in their control, then there has to be a rethink of the rules. This would require giving boxers more power in a sport accused of possessing too much bureaucracy. But as for a solution, it is still some way off, as Sulaiman was frustrated.

"Of course [fighters should be allowed to go through with contractually-mandated rematches]. Now [former undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell] Charlo has been stripped by the WBO and I think the IBF as well…How can you have the best fighter Terence Crawford not be recognized?" Sulaiman stated

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