Terence Crawford delivered one of the highlights of September 2025 when he beat Canelo Alvarez. With the win, he became the undisputed super middleweight champion. The historic fight was streamed live on Netflix and saw Crawford move up two weight classes to face the Mexican superstar. With the victory, Crawford, also known as “Bud”, became undisputed champion at 168 pounds and fully unified a third weight class, cementing his place among boxing’s elite.However, that championship status did not last long. On December 3, 2025, the World Boxing Council confirmed that Crawford had been stripped of his WBC World Super Middleweight title. The WBC stated that the belt was taken away due to Crawford’s failure to pay the required sanctioning fees for his last two fights. As a result, the division now has a vacant world title.
Terence Crawford loses WBC title as Hamzah Sheeraz vs Christian Mbilli confirmed for vacant title
The WBC explained that Terence Crawford lost his title because he did not pay sanctioning fees for his September victory over Canelo Alvarez and his 2024 fight against Israil Madrimov. Because of this violation, the WBC had no option but to strip him of the super middleweight belt.With the title now vacant, the WBC has quickly moved to name the next championship fight. The WBC board voted that interim super middleweight champion Christian Mbilli will face Hamzah Sheeraz for the vacant world title. There is no official date yet for the bout.Christian Mbilli last fought on the undercard of the Crawford vs Alvarez fight. He battled Lester Martinez to a draw. That result allowed Mbilli to retain his interim title. Despite the draw, Mbilli remains one of the most dangerous fighters in the division.Hamzah Sheeraz is also coming into the title bout with strong momentum. The English fighter recently scored an impressive fifth-round knockout over Edgar Berlanga, who previously fought Canelo Alvarez. The WBC has also confirmed that Lester Martinez, who has a record of 19-0-1, is now officially the number one contender in the super middleweight division.Talking about Crawford, his future currently remains unclear. There were rumors that he could face the winner of Erislandy Lara vs Zhanibek Alimkhanuly in a middleweight unification bout. But Alimkhanuly failed a drug test and was ruled out. Lara will now defend his WBA title against Johan Gonzalez instead. This arrangement ends any chance of a middleweight unification this weekend and leaves Crawford without a clear next step.Also Read: “It’s not about who’s best” – Lerone Murphy vents frustration after being snubbed for Alexander Volkanovski’s featherweight title shot at UFC 325
