Canelo Loses IBF Title

Saul Canelo Alvarez on Thursday lost his IBF middleweight title when his negotiations for his title defence against Sergiy Derevyachenko failed with a fight not getting done.

Naija News understands that after his loss, the International Boxing Federation (IBF) subsequently stripped the 29-year-old Alvarez of his IBF middleweight title.

The deadline had passed on Thursday afternoon without Golden Boy making a deal with Derevyanchenko’s promoters, Boxing News 24 reports.

The IBF had stripped Alvarez of his title when he could not make a deal with Derevyanchenko’s promoters on Thursday, August 1, Boxing News 24 reports.

This would have been a big deal for Derevyanchenko if he’d been able to fight Canelo. Instead, the Ukrainian fighter will need to fight someone else for the belt.

“We are extremely disappointed at the IBF for forcing the world’s best fighter to relinquish his world title.

“And we have been in serious negotiations with Sergiy Derevyanchenko’s promoter. We offered his team an unprecedented amount of money for a fighter of his limited stature and limited popularity, but the truth is that I’m now certain they never had any intention of making a deal.

“But instead they wanted to force us to relinquish Canelo’s belt. This is an insult to boxing and more importantly an insult to the boxing fans of the world. This decision validates already existing concerns about the credibility of the IBF championship,”