Here we are, then. A sport that can be as farcical as it can be beautiful, at it again. The pound-for-pound best boxer alive, one of the greatest of all time, has been stripped of a world title over a failure to pay sanctioning fees. Mauricio Sulaiman, president of the World Boxing Council (WBC), has labelled Terence Crawford’s refusal “a slap in the face”. Crawford, in turn, has told Sulaiman: “Boy, you better slap your f***ing self”.
This episode, emerging from the WBC convention in Bangkok this week, is an unusual footnote on one of the greatest feats in boxing history: Crawford’s masterclass against Canelo Alvarez three months ago, when the American ventured two divisions above his previous maximum to become the first three-weight undisputed champion in the four-belt era. But he did not hold all four belts for long.
