World Boxing Council boss Mauricio Sulaiman wasn’t too pleased with a rival sanctioning body’s decision to strip Terence Crawford of his 147-pound belt.
Crawford, of Omaha, Nebraska, fully unified all four belts in the welterweight division earlier this summer when he stopped Errol Spence Jr. in nine rounds in Las Vegas.
But last month, the International Boxing Federation stripped Crawford of his IBF belt, which elevated Jaron Ennis from interim status to full champion.
The reason behind that development was because Crawford was unable to comply with the IBF’s strict rules for mandatory title defenses, as Crawford is contractually obligated to give Spence a rematch. The two are expected to fight each other again next year.
While sanctioning bodies can often make exceptions, the IBF was unwilling to grant Crawford an optional defense.
The move left WBC’s Sulaiman scratching his head, saying in essence that the IBF was hurting the sport by slavishly following its own set of procedures.
“As a fan, I’m sick,” Sulaiman said on The DAZN Boxing Show. “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?”
“Of course [fighters should be allowed to go through with contractually-mandated rematches],” Sulaiman added. “Now [former undisputed 154-pound champion Jermell] Charlo has been stripped by the WBO and I think the IBF as well.”
Sulaiman was adamant in insisting that sanctioning bodies do not benefit from stripping titles from the sport’s best fighters. Sulaiman said that was why his company devised its “Franchise Champion” designation in the first place, to give its top champions the flexibility to maintain their status.
“Absolutely nothing,” Sulaiman said when asked how it helps to strip a fighter like Crawford of his title. “How can you have the best fighter Terence Crawford not be recognized?”
“The ‘franchise’ designation is exactly that, recognizing the value of a fighter that exceeds the normal,” Sulaiman continued. “Canelo does that. Crawford does that. And [Juan Francisco] Estrada did. And [Vasiliy] Lomachenko had it. Franchise … provides a fighter a status that he can go after the big fights without having a consequence on his accolades as a champion.”
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.