Ryan Garcia Calls Crawford ‘Coward’ For WBC Snub

Ryan Garcia says Terence Crawford turned his back on the WBC once he got his money for the Canelo Alvarez fight. He notes that before he was blessed with a big payday for the Canelo fight, he wasn’t talking this way.

What Garcia is talking about is Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) refusing to pay the WBC the $300,000 sanctioning fee for the enormous $50 million purse. That move cost him his WBC belt, as they chose to strip him of the title when he decided not to pay.

Why Crawford Refused to Pay

They weren’t going just to let him have it because he’s popular. Ryan believes that the way that Crawford changed his tune, going from nice-nice to criticizing the WBC, is “cowardice.”

“Crawford should have talked his talk. Before, when he needed them, he wasn’t talking like this,” said Ryan Garcia to InsideRingShow about Terence Crawford turning his back on the WBC when he no longer needed them for rankings after he got his big $50 million payday against undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.

“Now that he’s got his money and the cash, now, ‘Oh, I don’t need the WBC to get me an opportunity. Now, I’m going to say, F*** y’all.’ To me, that’s a little cowardice on his part. But guess what? The only thing I don’t agree with is why is it $330,000? I don’t like that amount,” said Garcia.

Sanctioning Fee Breakdown

The reason it’s $300K and not $1.5 million is that the WBC gave Crawford a discount of 0.6% instead of the normal 3% for their sanctioning fee for fighters. Based on Terence’s $50 million earnings for the fight, he should have paid $1.5M, but the WBC let him off. But yet, he still wouldn’t pay even the reduced amount, which was a drop in the bucket for the $50M that he made.

Did Crawford Miscalculate?

Crawford didn’t realise at the time that, by being thrifty, how important it was for him to hold onto the WBC title. He needed that belt to remain as the undisputed super middleweight champion. Having all four titles in Terence’s possession during negotiations with Canelo Alvarez would have made a difference. Instead, he only has three now, thanks to the decision not to pay the sanctioning fee.

Crawford says he doesn’t need the titles, but he does, because it’s not enough for him to say he’s “the Ring champion.” That doesn’t work. The undisputed is the prestigious title, and he lost it by being unyielding. That straight that helped him in fights messed him up when it came to making business decisions. Someone needed to explain to Crawford before he made this move.

Turki Paid to Make Undisputed Happen

You’ve got to wonder what Turki Alalshikh thinks about all of this. He went through all this trouble to have the undisputed 168-lb championship at stake for Crawford by paying a fortune for Canelo to face the IBF champion William Scull earlier this year on May 3rd.

The idea was for Canelo to capture the last belt he needed to become undisputed. When he defeated Scull to win that last belt, it set the table for Crawford to fight for the undisputed. Turki fixed him up. Instead of holding onto the four belts that Turki helped him acquire, Bud refused to pay the 0.6% sanctioning fee, which was nothing compared to the $50 million that he was paid.