Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn launched into a six-minute diatribe about Terence Crawford choosing not to pay the sanctioning fee for his WBC super middleweight title that he captured against Canelo Alvarez last September.
Crawford complained yesterday about the WBC stripping him for his failure to pay the reduced sanctioning fee of $300,000. He argued that he put his life on the line, and they should pay him for his “rocking” their belt around after he defeated Canelo.
Hearn says that Crawford (42-0, 31 KOs) needed the WBC’s title to be at stake for his fight against Canelo to be for the undisputed championship. A selling point of the fight was that it would be for the undisputed super middleweight championship.
When Crawford was victorious, he marched around the ring, proudly carrying the WBC belt among the three others, and told fans that he’s now undisputed. But then he refused to pay the sanctioning fee for the WBC, saying that they should have taken what he offered to them.
The WBC had already lowered its sanctioning fee for him from 3% to 0.6% for the $50 million that he made. Hearn points out that they could have asked for $1.5 million of his purse, as that would have been 3%.
Instead, they lowered it to 0.6%, which was $300,000. Crawford wasn’t willing to pay that either and made a big production when they stripped him. He lashed out at the WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman, saying he was angry that he beat Canelo. He said the title was just a trophy.
“The reason that fight was so important and so historic is that he was going for his third undisputed championship,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV about Terence Crawford fighting for the undisputed championship, then refusing to pay the sanctioning fee for the WBC title. “If you want to fight for the undisputed championship, you have to abide by the rules of that belt. But you can’t leave without paying because it’s just not right.
“You paraded around the ring with that belt. That belt matters. The new wave of boxing coming in is going to try and [devalue] all the belts. They’re going to try to kill the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO and say they’re worthless. And I’m doubling down. They’re absolutely not worthless,” said Hearn.
Crawford shouldn’t have agreed to fight for the WBC title if he wasn’t going to pay or if he thought he could then agree to less after he won it. If he had met with the WBC ahead of time, telling them that he would give them a certain amount of his $50 million purse, maybe they would have agreed. But for him to fight for it and then refuse to pay, it reflects on him.
“They’re absolutely the essence of legacy and achievement within the spot,” said Hearn. “No one ever wants to pay the bill. But what you can’t do is chase the legacy, chase the undisputed tag, and then say, ‘Well, actually, I didn’t want that.’ No, you did. You fought for that already. You can’t not now say, ‘I’m not paying.’”
Crawford shouldn’t have fought for the belt if he wasn’t going to pay. If he’s just going to focus on Turki Alalshikh’s Ring belt, he should have told all four sanctioning bodies that he’s not going to pay. At least they would know.
“What he’s essentially saying is, ‘I’m not paying that much.’ That’s their rules. You wanted the belt,” said Hearn. “That’s the rules. It’s a horrible situation Mauricio have to be in to strip a fighter. But what else can he do when they’re not paying? It’s like, ‘I want it all now, but I don’t have to pay.’ It ain’t right.
“You can’t fight for a belt, call yourself undisputed, wear it everywhere around the ring, and go, ‘Actually, I’m not paying.’ You got to pay your bill. What he’s probably saying is ‘The others were cheaper.’ That has nothing to do with it. What the WBC could have said, ‘That’s 3% of the whole lot [$50 million],’” said Hearn.
In hindsight, the WBC should have stuck to its guns and insisted on its usual 3% of the $50 million purse. Once you start bending the rules for a person, it creates a situation where they’ll expect to do whatever they want. But if you’re firm, they know what the deal is and don’t try to weasel special treatment.
“If they would have had the argument pre-fight, Mauricio would have gone, ‘The belts not on the line.’ And the fight wouldn’t have been undisputed, and it wouldn’t have sold the way it sold. It wouldn’t have given Crawford the opportunity to be part of such a historic fight because it would have been one belt missing,” said Hearn.
It’s very likely that if Crawford had told the WBC ahead of time that he wouldn’t pay even a reduced 0.6% of his $50 million purse, the title wouldn’t have been at stake. The fight wouldn’t have been as historic. It would have been just a 38-year-old fighter that Turki Alalshikh likes being given a title shot against Canelo that he didn’t work for.
“You can’t want to call yourself undisputed and parade with that honor, and not abide by the rules and pay your bill,” said Hearn.
That’s so wrong for Crawford to parade around with the WBC belt after capturing it, then refusing to pay. He had the title essentially on loan, like buying a fancy car. But then not tp pay, it makes him look bad.
“What he will say in an answer to that is, ‘Yeah, but the bill was too much.’ No, the rules our their rules. They can actually impose a sanctioning fee across your whole purse [$1.5 million]. What Mauricio [Sulaiman] is saying is it actually worked out to 0.06. But Terence is looking at it and going, ‘That’s $300,000,’” said Hearn.
“You wanted the opportunity to call yourself an undisputed champion. That’s what was important to you. The only way you can do that is to fight for the WBC world title. So, if belts don’t matter, then surely undisputed doesn’t matter to you. But of course it does, because when you saw him a few hours before, you heard him, ‘I’m undisputed,’” said Hearn.
