Gennady Golovkin stripped of IBF title

The international boxing federation stripped Gennady Golovkin of his IBF middleweight title on Wednesday due to him failing to agree in writing that he would defend his IBF belt against his mandatory challenger Sergey Derevyanchenko by the August 3 deadline for the defence. The IBF made the following statement via skysports.com about their rationale for stripping Golovkin of his IBF middleweight title: “After a lengthy review and period of deliberation, the International Boxing Federation has vacated the IBF Middleweight title held by Gennady Golovkin. The IBF had to enforce the penalty under Rule 5H for Golovkin having participated in an unsanctioned contest within his weight class and declare the IBF Middleweight title vacant. The IBF will identify the two leading available contenders and order them to negotiate to fight for the vacant title.”

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