Terence Crawford’s landmark win over Canelo Álvarez has been tarnished by a major setback, as the American has been stripped of his WBC super-middleweight title.
Crawford made global headlines in September when he jumped two weight classes to defeat Álvarez in a blockbuster bout streamed worldwide on Netflix. The victory crowned him the undisputed champion at 168 pounds, making him a three-division undisputed titleholder—one of the defining achievements of 2025.
However, on 3 December, the WBC announced that Crawford had been stripped of the belt for failing to pay sanctioning fees for his last two fights—his win over Álvarez and his 2024 bout with Israil Madrimov. The decision brings an abrupt end to Crawford’s brief reign as undisputed champion at super middleweight.
In the wake of the ruling, the WBC confirmed that interim champion Christian Mbilli will fight Hamzah Sheeraz for the now-vacant title, though a date has yet to be finalised.
Mbilli, who fought Lester Martinez to a draw on the Crawford–Álvarez undercard, enters the title fight at 29-0-1. Sheeraz, meanwhile, carries a 22-0-1 record after stopping Edgar Berlanga in the fifth round of their recent bout.
The organisation also announced that Martinez, currently 19-0-1, has been installed as the mandatory challenger for the division.
Crawford’s immediate future is unclear. He had been linked with facing the winner of the planned middleweight unification bout between Erislandy Lara and Zhanibek Alimkhanuly on 6 December. But Alimkhanuly’s withdrawal following a positive drug test has forced Lara to instead defend his WBA middleweight belt against Johan Gonzalez, ruling out the possibility of a unification fight.
