The WBO is getting tired of the PBC ignoring the sanctioning body and its champions.
While PBC has shown in the past that it does little to acknowledge the WBO, the July 20 pay-per-view broadcast featuring Manny Pacquiao vs. Keith Thurman. During the broadcast, a graphic was put up featuring the various welterweight titlists - Pacquiao and Thurman as WBA champions heading to the fight, Errol Spence Jr. as IBF champion and Shawn Porter as WBC champion. Not only were all four fighters affiliated with PBC, but WBO champion Terence Crawford was not mentioned. In addition to that, when unified WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. appeared on the broadcast, he was only referred to as WBA and IBF champion.
The broadcast seemed to have hit a nerve on the WBO as President Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel went to Twitter to express his disgust at PBC, particularly with Crawford’s name being omitted. Valcarcel claimed that it was done in order to drive a wedge and prevent a unification bout between Crawford and Spence, a fight that had been highly desired by many in boxing.
Such a fight is unlikely at any point given that Crawford is promoted by Top Rank which has a network deal with ESPN while Spence’s affiliation with PBC has him fighting on Showtime and FOX. It should also be noted that there are no fighters affiliated with PBC, aside from Ruiz, hold WBO world titles and there are barely any PBC fighters ranked in the top 15 in any of the organization’s rankings at any weight class.
If this is truly their position, PBC's statements regarding the WBO confirm what the press and boxing fans already suspected: it is a misguided attempt to avoid the possible unification bout between WBO welterweight Champion Terence Crawford and Errol Spence Jr.
— Paco Valcárcel, Esq. (@PacoValcarcel) July 29, 2019
While Crawford does not have a fight lined up for him, Spence and Porter will unify their respective 147-pound titles in the main event of a PBC on FOX pay-per-view in Los Angeles on September 28. Crawford reacted to PBC’s decision in the video which can be seen at the top of the page.
