Report: Boxing Sanctioning Body Actually Does Right Thing, IBF Holds Firm

When it comes to boxing’s four sanctioning bodies doing the WRONG thing, we’re all quick to point fingers– and rightfully so. But what about when they do the RIGHT thing? Yeah, that occasionally happens…even if that RIGHT can be viewed as a subjective right.

Earlier today, the IBF ordered a 168 lb. clash for their now-vacant super middleweight title between no. 1 contender William Scull (22-0, 9 KOs) and no. 2 Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs). Late last week, the organizaton stripped their champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez for failure to defend against Scull, who had been named mandatory contender back in May. The announcement of Alvarez’s September 14 bout with Edgar Berlanga forced the hand of the New Jersey-based organization.

“On June 18, 2024, the IBF received emails from both parties indicating that an agreement had been reached,” The IBF said in a press release. “Accordingly, the IBF sent notification that the purse bid rescheduled for June 18, 2024, had been cancelled. However, the terms of the ‘agreement’ were not disclosed to the IBF. Tom Brown, on behalf of Saul Alvarez, sent a letter to the IBF on July 5, 2024, requesting an exception to participate in an optional defense of the Super Middleweight title on September 14, 2024, against a fighter to be determined.

“On July 19, 2024, the IBF Board of Directors met via video conference to discuss this matter. A majority of the directors determined that the request should not be considered pursuant to Rule 11.A [which] states in part:

“’Once the IBF has sent out the notice of the date of the purse bid, or once a contract has been signed for a mandatory bout, no request for an exception can be made.'”

A sports sanctioning body living up to its actual purpose should not be a news story. In boxing, though, it is.

By standing firm on their own rules and bylaws, the IBF lost out on a 3% sanctioning fee from the Mexican superstar’s purse, which could’ve brought them anywhere from $1.2 million to $2 million. The Scull-Shishkin title bout, meanwhile, might not even top 5-digits. The move also severs ties with the boxing cash cow, at least for the time being.

And this wasn’t the first time that the IBF stripped Canelo. Back in 2019, they took their IBF strap from him for failure to defend against mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

Now, one could poke holes in this whole thing by pointing out that neither Cuba’s Scull nor Russia’s Shishkin should be ranked no. 1 or no. 2 in the super middleweight division. Of the two fighters, only Shishkin has any wins of real note– a 2022 unanimous decision victory over former interim world champ Jose Uzcategui.

But that’s splitting hairs. Let’s just focus on the positive for now.

The IBF did the right thing by standing by their own rules, and they’re losing a substantial chunk of change by doing so.

Of all the boxing sanctioning bodies, they’ve been the only one to consistently make these kinds of budget-flattening decisions. Just last month, they forced heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk’s hand, ultimately forcing the new unified champ to vacate his IBF title for failure to defend next against their mandatory challenger.

One could argue whether the IBF did the right thing by prioritizing a mandatory defense for Usyk over a rematch with Tyson Fury.

But, ultimately, as they just did in this whole Canelo situation, they set their rules and enforced them, without concern for the loss of revenue. That’s integrity. That’s a good thing.

We can work on some of the other details later.