Notebook: Why did Warrington vacate featherweight title and what's next for him?

Josh Warrington on Thursday vacated the IBF featherweight world title, saying he did so because the organization would not sanction a proposed unification fight in April.

He vacated shortly after TGB Promotions won a purse bid for his mandatory fight against Kid Galahad for $50,000, according to a source with knowledge of the purse bid. TGB, which does not promote either boxer, submitted the minimum offer when nobody else, including Warrington promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, put in a bid on the fight, according to the source.

Warrington had received an exception specifically to fight secondary titlist Xu Can (18-2, 3 KOs), of China, on Feb. 17 but when Xu decided he wanted to wait so the fight could hopefully be held in front of spectators in the spring and, therefore, delayed until at least April, the IBF said the Galahad fight had to come first and ordered the bout.

With Warrington vacating, the IBF later Thursday ordered Galahad (27-1, 16 KOs) and James “Jazza” Dickens (30-3, 11 KOs) to begin negotiations for the vacant title bout. The fight would be a rematch of Galahad’s 10th-round knockout of Dickens to win the vacant British title in 2013.

Warrington, who won a split decision over Galahad in a June 2019 title defense, is scheduled to fight Mauricio Lara on Feb. 13 (DAZN) at a site to be announced in the United Kingdom. The fight was put together when the Xu fight was delayed and when Warrington-Lara was announced it was not stated whether the fight would be for Warrington’s title, obviously because of the mandatory situation.

The new working date for Warrington-Xu is April 24, according to Hearn, although there is no guarantee it will happen.

Hearn said that assuming Warrington beats Lara, he will still pursue a fight for Warrington against Can or WBC world titlist Gary Russell Jr.

“It’s so important for Josh to be in a mega fight after Lara,” Hearn said. “He has his heart set on the Ring (magazine) belt and it’s up to us to make the Can or Russell fights for April or early May. I’ve been working hard with Robert Diaz of Golden Boy to close Xu Can and also had several conversations with Luis De Cubas regarding a Gary Russell bout.”

Warrington (30-0, 7 KOs), 30, of England, won the title in May 2018 by split decision over Lee Selby and made three defenses, outpointing Carl Frampton and Galahad and then, in his most recent fight, knocked out Sofiane Takoucht in the second round in October 2019.

“It’s disappointing we couldn’t have the IBF title on the line, but I can’t let those decisions stand in the way of me going down in British boxing history by facing the very best in the division,” Warrington said. “I’ve always dreamt about winning the Ring belt. For me it leaves no doubt who the king of the division is. Right now, my mind and focus is on Lara for Feb. 13 and then I’m looking to pick up that beautiful red and blue belt.”

Golden Boy unveils strong Diaz-Rakhimov undercard

Golden Boy on Thursday rounded out the undercard of its Feb. 13 DAZN event at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio, California.

The top two fights have already been announced with junior lightweight titlist Joseph Diaz Jr. making his first defense against mandatory challenger Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov – who is back in the fight after two negative Covid-19 tests following a positive one a couple of weeks ago – and junior middleweight titlist Patrick Teixeira making his first title defense against mandatory challenger Brian Castano in the co-feature.

Added to the card was a fight between Ronny Rios (32-3, 16 KOs), 33, of Santa Ana, California, and Oscar Negrete (19-2-2, 7 KOs), 33, of Colombia, who will meet in a 10-round junior featherweight bout and Jason Quigley (18-1, 14 KOs), 29, of Ireland, against Shane Mosley Jr. (16-3, 9 KOs), 30, of Pomona, California, in a 10-round middleweight fight.

“A true crossroads fight will see Jason Quigley and Shane Mosley Jr. leaving it all in the ring to regain contender status in the middleweight division. And after upsetting my cousin Diego De La Hoya, Ronny Rios will look to keep it rolling against an always-tough customer in Oscar Negrete, whose only two losses have come to a world champion,” Golden Boy CEO Oscar De La Hoya said.

Bektemir “Bully” Melikuziev (6-0, 5 KOs), 24, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist from Uzbekistan, will also be on the card in a 10-round super middleweight fight against an opponent to be determined. He was supposed to fight former light heavyweight titlist Sergey Kovalev on Jan. 30 in a DAZN main event at 178 pounds but it was canceled after Kovalev tested positive for synthetic testosterone.

In other bouts on the show: Armenian junior featherweight Azat “Crazy A” Hovhannisyan (18-3, 15 KOs) will face an opponent to be named in a 10-rounder; Canadian featherweight Victor Morales (13-0, 7 KOs) will face Mexico’s Jose Gonzalez (23-8-1, 13 KOs) in an eight-rounder and Hawaii’s Dalis Kaleiopu will make his professional debut in a four-round lightweight fight against Eduardo Sanchez (2-3) of Corcoran, California.

Beterbiev-Deines update

Top Rank on Thursday made official what has been well known – that the oft-delayed fight between unified light heavyweight world champion Artur Beterbiev (15-0, 15 KOs) and fellow Russia native Adam Deines (19-1-1, 10 KOs) has been rescheduled for March 20 at Megasport Arena in Moscow. Top Rank also announced the fight will air live on an ESPN platform to be determined.

“At long last, Artur Beterbiev will defend his world titles as he looks to kick off his 2021 campaign in devastating fashion,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “We have big plans for Artur, but he must first take care of business in Moscow.”

Those plans include a three-belt unification fight with the winner of the vacant title bout between Joe Smith Jr. and Maxim Vlasov, who fight Feb. 13 (ESPN/ESPN Deportes) in Las Vegas.

The most recent delay to Beterbiev-Deines was because Beterbiev tested positive for Covid-19, forcing it to be pushed off Jan. 30. A previous delay was caused by Beterbiev suffering rib injury.

"I am excited to finally have a date for the fight. Now that Covid-19 and the injury are behind me, I am able to prepare well and put on a great show for boxing fans,” Beterbiev said.

Quick hits

Showtime’s tripleheader with Adrien Broner and Robert Easter Jr. in separate junior welterweight fights and a heavyweight fight between Otto Wallin and Dominic Breazeale – a card that has not yet been formally announced – has been moved from Feb. 13 to Feb. 20 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, according to a source. Once Showtime moved a “ShoBox” card from Feb. 10 to Feb. 17 the Broner card was bound to move also as the network wants to keep its “ShoBox” and “Showtime Championship Boxing” events in the same week for reasons related to logistics, Covid-19 testing and production.

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MTK Global announced three cards that will all take place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and stream in the United States on ESPN+. On Feb. 6, Karim Guerfi will defend his European bantamweight title against Lee McGregor and Sean McComb will face Gavin Gwynne for the vacant Commonwealth lightweight title; on March 12, junior welterweight Tyrone McKenna faces Zhankosh Turarov in the 10-round main event; and in the April 3 main event former four-division world titlist Donnie Nietes, idle since December 2018 when he won a vacant junior bantamweight world title against Kazuto Ioka and later vacated, will face an opponent to be named.