IBF Orders Frank Sanchez vs Moses Itauma For Their Heavyweight Title

Ring Magazine heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk caused quite the stir on Friday when he announced on social media that he would vacate all his sanctioning organization titles before his final pro fight. Unlike the WBC, the IBF took a few days to process the decision and has officially ordered a title bout, with the only issue being that one of the fighters already has a scheduled fight in August.

Coming off a sensational second-round knockout victory in May, Frank Sanchez (26-1, 19 KOs) was ranked as the number one heavyweight by the IBF. The sanctioning organization then selected the next-highest-ranked fighter, Moses Itauma (14-0, 12 KOs), as his opponent. The following statement was issued by the IBF via press release earlier today.

“Throughout his distinguished career, Usyk has established himself as one of the sport’s elite competitors and the IBF is honored to have recognized him as one of its world champions. His talent and pursuit of excellence have made a lasting impact on boxing and will continue to inspire future generations of fighters. The IBF wishes Oleksandr Usyk continued success in the pursuit of his future endeavors.

“In accordance with IBF Championship Rules, #1 ranked contender in the IBF Heavyweight division, Frank Sanchez, has been ordered to negotiate with #3 ranked contender Moses Itauma. They have until July 29 to reach an agreement.”

Under normal circumstances, this would be perfectly fine, but the problem is that Itauma has a fight scheduled with the number-four-ranked heavyweight Filip Hrgovic on August 29. What should happen here is that Queenberry submits an exemption letter so that the winner between Itauma and Hrgovic then faces Sanchez for the title. Why that wasn’t worked out before this press release by the IBF is beyond me.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out and whether Sanchez ends up waiting or the IBF keeps going down the list until an available opponent becomes available.

Abraham Gonzalez

Abraham Gonzalez is a 2x award-winning writer, International Boxing Hall of Fame voter, founder and publisher of FightsATW. His journalistic work has been published and used across several platforms, including online, network TV, and promotional companies. He is an alumnus of an American Public University and a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America (BWAA). Abraham was the Managing Editor for NYFights, Big Fight Weekend, and contributed to The Ring Magazine, FanSidedMMA, and ProBoxTV.

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