The WBC has named its new super middleweight world champion after stripping Terence Crawford, prior to his retirement.
Crawford had a well-publicised falling out with WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman last year after they stripped him of their title for not paying the required sanctioning fees.
The WBC’s decision ended the Omaha man’s status as the undisputed champion, which he achieved with a career-best win over Canelo Alvarez in September.
Days later, the five-weight world champion announced his retirement from the sport and later relinquished his three remaining WBA, WBO and IBF belts.
“I ain’t paying yo a**,” Crawford said in response to being stripped.
“What makes you better than any of the other sanctioning bodies?
“Everybody accepted what I was giving them but you.
“You, the WBC, think that you’re better than everybody.
“You want me to pay you more than the other sanctioning bodies because you feel like you’re better than them.”
The WBA moved quickly to replace him, elevating interim champion, Jose Resendiz to full titlist.
The WBO have ordered a bout between Hamzah Sheeraz and Diego Pacheco to contest their vacant strap, while the IBF have ordered number one contender Osleys Iglesias to face Pavel Silyagin for the vacant title after multiple contenders including Canelo Alvarez turned down the opportunity.
The WBC have now made their move, elevating Christian Mbilli to full champion from interim titlist.
Mbilli won the interim strap with a first round knockout of Maciej Sulecki in June, before defending with a split decision victory over Lester Martinez on the undercard of Crawford’s win over Canelo.
The 30-year-old’s first defence is unknown, but he could feasibly be ordered to face Alvarez, who is the number one contender.
The Mexican great will return in Riyadh on September 12 and Saudi Arabian boxing chief, Turki Alalshikh revealed it would be in a world title clash.
“12th September, big, big, big fight,” Alalshikh said in a video posted on X.
“This will be the first card for Canelo Promotions.
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“It will be named Mexico vs the world.
“All the fighters from team Canelo against the world.
“And the champion [Canelo] in the main event in [a] world title [fight] and it will be a surprise in Saudi Arabia.”
