The International Boxing Federation (IBF) has stripped Gennady Golovkin – known to boxing fans as “GGG” – of the IBF middleweight championship on Wednesday after he failed to fight Sergiy Derevyanchenko, the federation’s mandatory challenger for the title belt.
The decision comes after a May 22 meeting in Newark, New Jersey, in which both Golovkin and Derevyanchenko brought teams to present their cases. The IBF issued their ruling on Wednesday, sending an email to both camps explaining that because Golovkin was unwilling to fight Derevyanchenko by Aug. 3, he was being stripped of his title.
Complete Shock
The dispute occurred after GGG’s fight with Canelo Alvarez that had been scheduled for May 5 was cancelled following Alvarez’s positive tests for clenbuterol. The IBF was next in the rotation of mandatory title defenses, leading to Derevyanchenko’s claim that he should be next in line to fight Golovkin.
Instead, Golovkin (38-0-1, 34 KOs) chose to fight Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 instead. The IBF granted an exception to the mandatory challenger rules due to the short notice of the fight, but said that GGG could only keep the title if he agreed in writing before the May 5 bout to fight Derevyanchenko within 90 days.
Golovkin’s camp appealed that portion of the ruling, leading IBF officials to hear arguments from both sides, before ultimately siding against GGG.
The penalty for Golovkin having participated in an unsanctioned contest within his weight class,” the ruling read, “is that his IBG middleweight title will be declared vacant.”
GGG promoter Tom Loeffler told ESPN that he was stunned by the decision.
“It comes as a complete shock that the IBF would make a ruling far beyond what the Derevyanchenko side was asking for,” Loeffler said. “They were asking to have their shot at the IBF title next, but they never asked for him to be stripped. In light of this ruling, I think the IBF has completely mistreated GGG.”
The ruling means that Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) will now get a shot at the vacant title against the highest-ranked contender who agrees to take on the fight. His promoter, Lou DiBella, was understandably pleased with the decision.
“I’ve always respected the IBF for following their rules,” DiBella told ESPN. “They never came to us to try to make the fight. It was clear they weren’t going to try to make the fight, not with the possibility of the Canelo rematch, which looks dead now anyway.”
Is GGG-Alvarez Rematch Still Alive?
It’s not entirely impossible that a Golovkin-Alvarez rematch, which was said to be dead earlier this week, couldn’t still materialize. The main sticking point has the revenue split for the two sides, with Alvarez wanting a majority of the money and Golovkin demanding an equal split.
Previously, it appeared that GGG was unwilling to move off of his demands for parity between the two fighters. Now, however, it seems like there could be some wiggle room.
“Gennady has agreed to come off his 50-50 demand,” Loeffler said. “He will come down to 55-45, which makes Canelo the A side. It will be Canelo making 55 percent in a rematch against GGG, which will be much bigger than the first fight was for sure.”
A 55-45 split could put the two sides within spitting distance in negotiations, as promoter Oscar De La Hoya said that the Alvarez team was willing to go down to 60-40 in order to make the fight happen.