IBF reportedly orders Gennadiy Golovkin-Sergiy Derevyanchenko vacant middleweight title fight

"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 the attorneys representing the promoters for Golovkin and Derevyanchenko, as reported by ESPN.

IBF spokesperson Jeanette Salazar told BoxingScene.com that the promoters for Golovkin and Derevyanchenko have 30 days to negotiate.

This comes after Canelo's camp couldn't come to an agreement with Derevyanchenko, the IBF mandatory challenger, on a purse bid for a potential matchup. According to ESPN, the IBF had already allowed for several postponements of a purse bid for the bout before stripping Canelo of its title, leaving him with just the WBA middleweight belt.

The move instantly incensed Golden Boy Promotions' Oscar De La Hoya, who blasted the IBF.

"We are extremely disappointed at the IBF for forcing the world's best fighter to relinquish his world title," De La Hoya said in a statement to ESPN. "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."

He added: "This decision validates already existing concerns about the credibility of the IBF championship. Canelo inherited a mandatory challenger by defeating Daniel Jacobs, the man who beat Derevyanchenko, so to strip him of his title without giving him enough time to make the best fight possible is truly what is wrong with boxing and I plan to aggressively consider all legal actions possible."

The 37-year-old Golovkin (39-1-1, 35 KOs) is coming off a fourth-round KO of virtually-unknown Steve Rolls in June, while Derevyanchenko (13-1, 10 KOs) lost to Jacobs last October before bouncing back with a unanimous decision victory over Jack Culcay in April.