Crawford Vacates IBF Title, Lipinets To Fight For Vacant Belt

[Ruthless-RKO]

BS.com has been advised that Terence Crawford has vacated the IBF junior welterweight title.

Earlier this month, Crawford - who held the WBC, WBO titles - unified the entire division when he knocked out IBF, WBA champion Julius Indongo in three rounds. The fight was showcased as an ESPN televised main event from Lincoln, Nebraska.

But there is a price for holding numerous world titles - mandatory defenses - and that's why there have been very few fighters to hold all four titles simultaneously.

The winner of Crawford vs. Indongo was ordered, by the IBF, to face mandatory challenger Sergey Lipinets (12-0, 10 KO).
There was very little time to make Crawford vs. Lipinets happen, as Lipinets promoter Tom Brown bypassed the negotiations period and requested an immediate purse bid - which the sanctioning body scheduled for August 31.

Now with three of the world titles around his waist, it appears Crawford - at least for the moment - is sticking around in the junior welterweight division.

Top Rank wants to match him against the winner of the Manny Pacquiao vs. Jeff Horn rematch, which may or may not happen in November for the WBO welterweight title.

Lipinets on the other hand will fight for the vacant belt against highest ranked, available challenger. The undefeated contender has been chasing an IBF world title shot since last year, when Indongo dominated Ricky Burns to unify the IBF/WBA world titles.

He was on the verge of landing that shot, but the sanctioning body approved Indongo's request to face Crawford in a four belt unification.

The current highest ranked fighter to face Lipinets for the vacant belt is Akahiro Kondo (29-6-1, 16 Os) of Japan - ranked at three [number two spot is vacant] and winner of his last eight fights. If Kondo decides to pass, the sanctioning body will go down the list - with number 4 being undefeated Maurice Hooker.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Anyone want to say Crawford is ducking Lipnets?

[Ossyrules]

Always a shame a champion getting stripped because of governing bodies in competition with each other on who the fighter will face etc... IBF can be trigger happy in that sense.

But this is boxing, great opportunity for someone to become a paper champion but still technically be a world champion

[boxing_rocks]

I hope he fights somebody better than Lipinets and that he doesn't wait till next summer.

[tiny_acres]

The IBF doesn't play games. I think it's cheap but let them do what they want. The belts are all a joke

[Ruthless-RKO]

Crawford is still the man to beat at 140.. Lineal Champion.. and legit Undisputed Champion..

[RScarf1]

The IBF doesn't play games. I think it's cheap but let them do what they want. The belts are all a joke

The IBF won't have the best in the division, but they will have their sanctioning fee and that is all they care about.

[ValMar]

Always a shame a champion getting stripped because of governing bodies in competition with each other on who the fighter will face etc... IBF can be trigger happy in that sense.

But this is boxing, great opportunity for someone to become a paper champion but still technically be a world champion

Yes, you are right 100 %........

[tiny_acres]

The IBF doesn't play games. I think it's cheap but let them do what they want. The belts are all a joke

The IBF won't have the best in the division, but they will have their sanctioning fee and that is all they care about.

Yep all about a quick buck

[boxing_rocks]

IBF is the least corrupt of the sanctioning bodies. They just enforce their rules. The problem is that pro boxing is not a sport, so after reaching a certain level, champions don't want to fight opponents assigned by sanctioning bodies. Can you imagine and NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB team refusing to play a certain opponent?

[Tanzio]

IBF is the least corrupt of the sanctioning bodies. They just enforce their rules. The problem is that pro boxing is not a sport, so after reaching a certain level, champions don't want to fight opponents assigned by sanctioning bodies. Can you imagine and NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB team refusing to play a certain opponent?

Ridiculously inaccurate comparison.

[boxing_rocks]

IBF is the least corrupt of the sanctioning bodies. They just enforce their rules. The problem is that pro boxing is not a sport, so after reaching a certain level, champions don't want to fight opponents assigned by sanctioning bodies. Can you imagine and NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB team refusing to play a certain opponent?

Ridiculously inaccurate comparison.

Why is that? Instead, boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.

P.S. I don't blame Crawford. It would be stupid to be a saint when everybody else on his level is a diva.

[Tanzio]

IBF is the least corrupt of the sanctioning bodies. They just enforce their rules. The problem is that pro boxing is not a sport, so after reaching a certain level, champions don't want to fight opponents assigned by sanctioning bodies. Can you imagine and NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB team refusing to play a certain opponent?

Ridiculously inaccurate comparison.

Why is that? Instead, boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.

P.S. I don't blame Crawford. It would be stupid to be a saint when everybody else on his level is a diva.

Why? 1. Because you referenced team sports leagues. 2. The teams you are comparing Hitman Jr to are under one league jurisdiction not five or more sanctioning bodies. 3. The culprits are the sanctioning bodies and the promoters, not the individual boxers.

Hitman Jr is looking after his own interests. If the IBF was like the UFC you would have a decent comparison. The IBF is nothing like the UFC or the "NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB." Therefore, your comparison sucks.

[crusader]

I hope he gets rid of the belts and goes up to 147. It would make WW and JWW significantly more interesting...

[Horse]

Crawford is still the man to beat at 140.. Lineal Champion.. and legit Undisputed Champion..

Duh.

[boxing_rocks]

Ridiculously inaccurate comparison.

Why is that? Instead, boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.

P.S. I don't blame Crawford. It would be stupid to be a saint when everybody else on his level is a diva.

Why? 1. Because you referenced team sports leagues. 2. The teams you are comparing Hitman Jr to are under one league jurisdiction not five or more sanctioning bodies. 3. The culprits are the sanctioning bodies and the promoters, not the individual boxers.

Hitman Jr is looking after his own interests. If the IBF was like the UFC you would have a decent comparison. The IBF is nothing like the UFC or the "NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB." Therefore, your comparison sucks.

If IBF was there alone or at least was much bigger than the rest of them, it would be exactly like the UFC. Multiple orgs with bendable inconsistent rules exactly proves my point that boxing is far from being a real sport.

[Tanzio]

Why is that? Instead, boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.

P.S. I don't blame Crawford. It would be stupid to be a saint when everybody else on his level is a diva.

Why? 1. Because you referenced team sports leagues. 2. The teams you are comparing Hitman Jr to are under one league jurisdiction not five or more sanctioning bodies. 3. The culprits are the sanctioning bodies and the promoters, not the individual boxers.

Hitman Jr is looking after his own interests. If the IBF was like the UFC you would have a decent comparison. The IBF is nothing like the UFC or the "NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB." Therefore, your comparison sucks.

If IBF was there alone or at least was much bigger than the rest of them, it would be exactly like the UFC. Multiple orgs with bendable inconsistent rules exactly proves my point that boxing is far from being a real sport.

Boxing is absolutely a sport. The business of end just is not as monopolized. If boxing became more monopolized it would not make it any more or less a sport.

[caldo2025]

The IBF has making all the wrong noise for the last year with these ridiculous "mandatory" fights. Bud just fought a couple of weeks ago and they already on him about his mandatory? What about Joshua, Ward or Spence Jr? Do they not have mandatory IBF defenses to make as the 3 of them are without a fight scheduled. Ridiculous.

The IBF second weigh in rule that they recently finally discontinued almost cost GGG his fight against Jacobs. It took the idiots at IBF this long to realize how dangerous a situation they were putting their champions in. Screw IBF. Get rid of the damn belt all together.

[Enlightened-One]

Can you imagine and NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB team refusing to play a certain opponent?

Surely you realise that teams from those sporting organisations can choose to refuse to play other teams that aren’t from the same governing bodies?

For example: an NBA team can refuse to play any basketball team from England (i.e. not part of the NBA).

And then you say stupid things like “boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

A UFC fighter can refuse to face someone from Bellator. So does that mean that it’s also “ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

[Boxing Prospect]

The IBF has making all the wrong noise for the last year with these ridiculous "mandatory" fights. Bud just fought a couple of weeks ago and they already on him about his mandatory? What about Joshua, Ward or Spence Jr? Do they not have mandatory IBF defenses to make as the 3 of them are without a fight scheduled. Ridiculous.

The IBF second weigh in rule that they recently finally discontinued almost cost GGG his fight against Jacobs. It took the idiots at IBF this long to realize how dangerous a situation they were putting their champions in. Screw IBF. Get rid of the damn belt all together.

Spence won his title as the mandatory, Joshua has been ordered to face his mandatory

That's the fact the last mandatory for the IBF 140lb title was Keita Obara, almost a year ago. Since then the title has been fought for 3 times

[boxing_rocks]

Can you imagine and NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB team refusing to play a certain opponent?

Surely you realise that teams from those sporting organisations can choose to refuse to play other teams that aren’t from the same governing bodies?

For example: an NBA team can refuse to play any basketball team from England (i.e. not part of the NBA).

And then you say stupid things like “boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

A UFC fighter can refuse to face someone from Bellator. So does that mean that it’s also “ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

We are discussing boxing champions refusing to fight their mandatories, so your examples are plain stupid which is not a big news about EO.

[Tanzio]

Can you imagine and NFL/NBA/NHL/MLB team refusing to play a certain opponent?

Surely you realise that teams from those sporting organisations can choose to refuse to play other teams that aren’t from the same governing bodies?

For example: an NBA team can refuse to play any basketball team from England (i.e. not part of the NBA).

And then you say stupid things like “boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

A UFC fighter can refuse to face someone from Bellator. So does that mean that it’s also “ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

We are discussing boxing champions refusing to fight their mandatories, so your examples are plain stupid which is not a big news about EO.

You have no idea what you are talking about, Box_of_rocks. You are literally oblivious of your utter ignorance of the subject matter.

[boxing_rocks]

Surely you realise that teams from those sporting organisations can choose to refuse to play other teams that aren’t from the same governing bodies?

For example: an NBA team can refuse to play any basketball team from England (i.e. not part of the NBA).

And then you say stupid things like “boxing is ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

A UFC fighter can refuse to face someone from Bellator. So does that mean that it’s also “ridiculously far from being a real sport.” FFS!

We are discussing boxing champions refusing to fight their mandatories, so your examples are plain stupid which is not a big news about EO.

You have no idea what you are talking about, Box_of_rocks. You are literally oblivious of your utter ignorance of the subject matter.

There is nothing you know which I don't. The situation is extremely simple. A champion received his title under a certain governing body, then this body orders him to fight somebody they consider a second best fighter. The champion refuses. That is not how real sports work.

[Tanzio]

We are discussing boxing champions refusing to fight their mandatories, so your examples are plain stupid which is not a big news about EO.

You have no idea what you are talking about, Box_of_rocks. You are literally oblivious of your utter ignorance of the subject matter.

There is nothing you know which I don't. The situation is extremely simple. A champion received his title under a certain governing body, then this body orders him to fight somebody they consider a second best fighter. The champion refuses. That is not how real sports work.

You do not even understand the definition of sports. This subject is about business not whether or not boxing is a "real sport."

I am trying to be nice here, Box_of_rocks. You have zero idea what you are talking about. Your comparisons make zero sense. Your logic makes zero sense.

[boxing_rocks]

You have no idea what you are talking about, Box_of_rocks. You are literally oblivious of your utter ignorance of the subject matter.

There is nothing you know which I don't. The situation is extremely simple. A champion received his title under a certain governing body, then this body orders him to fight somebody they consider a second best fighter. The champion refuses. That is not how real sports work.

You do not even understand the definition of sports. This subject is about business not whether or not boxing is a "real sport."

I am trying to be nice here, Box_of_rocks. You have zero idea what you are talking about. Your comparisons make zero sense. Your logic makes zero sense.

The difference between you and me is that I studied logic and am using it in my profession, so stop your nonsense.