According to WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, the organisations responsible for those belts were kept at arm’s length once the event began. Speaking on The Ariel Helwani Show, Sulaiman said the WBC, along with the WBO, WBA and IBO, were denied credentials and blocked from the ring and other technical areas where sanctioning bodies typically operate on fight night.
“I was mistreated so bad in Las Vegas for Canelo vs Crawford,” Sulaiman said. “Me and the other three organizations, WBO, WBA, IBO, we were not even given credentials. We were told we could not get into the ring. We were not allowed to go into the dressing room. We were not allowed to be at the commission desk.”
Sulaiman said the issue was about how sanctioning bodies operate, not about status. He explained that officials attend major championship fights to work, not to observe, and that their presence in restricted areas is part of how title bouts are administered.
“When we go to a fight, we go to work,” Sulaiman said. “It is not a vacation or for fun or as a fan or reporter. They are fighting for our championships.”
Instead, Sulaiman said sanctioning body officials were treated as spectators rather than participants in the event’s operation.
“We were given a ticket to go into the fight outside of the technical zone, just with the regular public,” he said, adding that no explanation was provided for the restrictions.
The episode fits with Zuffa’s broader approach to boxing. The promotion has been open about its preference for a simplified structure built around fewer titles, borrowing heavily from the UFC model. It has also questioned the value of multiple sanctioning bodies and explored changes to the Muhammad Ali Act that would allow greater central control. Those positions are well established. The difference here was how they were applied in practice.
The irony is that Zuffa’s breakthrough boxing event depended entirely on the undisputed format. Four belts were central to the promotion, the marketing and the meaning of the fight. Yet the administrators of those belts were treated as optional participants once the event was underway. The message was procedural rather than verbal. The titles were required. The bodies behind them were not.
There was no public confrontation and no on the record exchange of insults. Zuffa simply ran the event according to its own instincts, importing UFC style operating rules into a boxing environment. Access was limited. Roles were narrowed. Longstanding customs were set aside without explanation.
Sulaiman’s response since then has been measured. Despite his criticism of how the event was handled, he said he remains willing to work with Zuffa Boxing in the future, provided certain conditions are met.
“They’re welcome if they want to do a unification fight, if they want to promote boxing,” Sulaiman said. “But they have to comply with the rules and the structure.”
That position suggests realism rather than escalation. Zuffa currently controls attention and momentum. The sanctioning bodies still control legitimacy when undisputed status is required. Neither side holds complete leverage, even if the balance has shifted.
Canelo versus Crawford showed how far Zuffa Boxing is willing to push its operating model when given the stage. It also showed the limits of that model at this stage of its boxing expansion. Boxing’s traditional system was necessary to sell the night. It simply was not invited to participate fully in how the night was run.
As Zuffa stages more events and signs more high level fighters, that tension will continue to surface. The central issue will not be whether sanctioning bodies are needed. It will be whether they are granted access when their involvement becomes unavoidable.
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