The IBF has ordered for a title match between Sergiy Derevyanchenko and Gennady Golovkin to determine the Middleweight World Championship title holder, according to ESPN’s Dan Rafael.
The title is currently vacant, and the two fighters have been sent letters telling them to begin negotiations immediately.
The fight will determine who will take the vacant title, which was stripped from Canelo Alvarez last week when Alvarez’s camp failed to finalize a deal with mandatory challenger Derevyanchenko.
“The IBF middleweight title was declared vacant on August 1, 2019. The IBF is therefore ordering that a bout take place between the two highest ranked contenders to fill this vacancy,” IBF championships chairman Carlos Ortiz Jr. wrote in a letter to Alex Dombroff, the attorney for Derevyanchenko promoter Lou DiBella, and John Hornewer, the attorney representing Golovkin’s GGG Promotions.
Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs), 37 and Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs), 33, have both been eyeing fights with Alvarez.
“We knew the letter was coming and we’ve already been talking, and I’m very confident in short order that we will be able to close a deal,” DiBella said.