Boxing

Ryan Garcia Blasts Terence Crawford For 'Cowardice' After WBC Decision

Terence Crawford's decision to not pay the WBC sanctioning fee after fighting Canelo Alvareez rubbed Ryan Garcia the wrong way.
Grant Young|
Terence Crawford
Terence Crawford | IMAGO / Torsten Helmke

Last week, news broke that the WBC was stripping Terence Crawford of his super middleweight belt, which he won by defeating Canelo Alvarez in September, because Crawford hadn't paid his WBC sanctioning fees for his previous two bouts. This meant that Crawford can no longer be considered the undisputed super middleweight champion.

When WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman was asked about this decision during a recent interview with IFL TV, he said:

"I am not going to entertain and get in a p***ing contest with Terence Crawford. If he says what he says, let him say whatever he wants to say. Today, the WBC cares; they made a statement wishing him success in his life, inside and outside of the ring. He's a boxer and will always be a boxer. We only care for the boxers. So, we'll have to see in the near future, but I have no issues."

Terence Crawford speaks to media on September 13, 2025.
Terence Crawford speaks to media on September 13, 2025. | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Sulaiman also noted that the majority of these sanctioning fees go to the Jose Sulaiman Boxers Fund, which is meant to help provide financial aid and other means of support to young, current, and retired boxers.

This has prompted Crawford to face some criticism about spurning the fee payment, which would have amounted to around $300,000 of the $50 million that Crawford received for fighting Canelo.

Ryan Garcia Calls Terence Crawford Out For WBC Fee Payment Refusal

Ryan Garcia
Ryan Garcia | IMAGO / Hoganphotos

Crawford's decision not to make this payment clearly rubbed star boxer Ryan Garcia the wrong way, which Garcia conveyed during his December 9 appearance on Ring Magazine's Inside The Ring Show.

“Crawford should have talked his talk before. When he needed them, he wasn’t talking like this. Now that he’s got the money, the cash, now it’s, 'Oh, I don’t need the WBC to get me an opportunity.' Now I’m going to say, 'Yo f*** ya’ll,'" Garcia said, per an X post from Ring Magazine.

"To me, that’s a little cowardice on his part," Garcia added of Crawford. "But guess what? The only thing I don't agree with is why is it $330,000?"

Garcia's stance is similar to what many other people in the industry are suggesting, that Crawford is acting differently now that he has a lot more money in his pockets after fighting Canelo.

Ultimately, the decision is Crawford's to make, and it doesn't detract from the fact that he was an undisputed super middleweight champion (although that undisputed status lasted for less than three months).

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Grant Young
GRANT YOUNG

Grant Young is a Staff Writer for On SI’s Boxing, New York Mets, Indiana Fever, and Women’s Fastbreak sites. Before joining SI in 2024, he wrote for various boxing and sports verticals such as FanBuzz and NY Fights. Young has a bachelor’s degree in marketing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis on sports nonfiction from the University of San Francisco, where he played five seasons of Division 1 baseball. He fought Muay Thai professionally in Thailand in 2023, loves a good essay, and is driven crazy trying to handle a pitpull puppy named Aura. Young lives in San Diego and was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area.