Robert Easter ordered to defend title against Richard Commey

[Ruthless-RKO]

Richard Commey will get another shot at a lightweight world title.

Commey knocked out Alejandro Luna in the sixth round of a title elimination bout on Saturday night at Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio on the Mikey Garcia-Sergey Lipinets undercard. On Monday, his title fight was ordered.

The IBF sent 135-pound world titleholder Robert Easter Jr. a letter on Monday to formally notify him of his obligation to fight Commey in what would be a rematch.

In September 2016, Easter got knocked down by Commey in the eighth round but carried on and eked out a split decision to win a vacant world title, which he has gone on to defend three times, including by split decision against Javier Fortuna on Jan. 20.

The IBF letter to Easter congratulated him for retaining the belt against Fortuna and added, "We wish you all the best for a long and illustrious career as the IBF lightweight champion."

And then the mandatory was ordered.

"Your mandatory defense is due on or before March 30, 2018," the IBF wrote. "The leading available contender is No. 1 Richard Commey. ... Negotiations should start immediately and be concluded by April 12, 2018. If you are unable to reach an agreement by April 12, 2018, the IBF will call for a purse bid to determine who will promote the bout, when and where."

[Ruthless-RKO]

Easter's last fight didn't help him going into this fight.

Had Fortuna not be docked a point, the fight would have ended a Split Draw..

The question is can Commey do a bit more than last time to win the title?

I saw many weaknesses in Easter in January. He didn't look good at all.. Some can say Fortuna was overweight, well so was Quigg (by a lot more)..

Easter's style is boring for my eyes. Especially since he won the world title.

[jamamb]

easters not as good as i once thought hed be

thought he was lucky vs fortuna and he couldve easily lost the first commey fight too. shafikov fight was also really competitive and the cards were f@cking awful, been some bad ones on these ohio cards

[Ezzard]

Easter-Fortuna was the worst decision I've seen this year. Hope Commey wins.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Easter-Fortuna was the worst decision I've seen this year. Hope Commey wins.

We need more decisions like DeGale vs. Truax..

I think they gave Easter the edge in a lot of the close rounds simply because Fortuna had came in over weight.

Worst case scenario, the belt would have been vacated had Fortuna won anyway.

[Mexi-Box]

Easter is average. You could argue that he's 0-3 against Shafikov, Commey, and Fortuna.

[Cent0089]

First fight was solid action packed and close, but right man won. Rematch would be interesting. Good fight which boxing need

[ElJefe]

Rooting for Commey the hard bastard

[Stuarty]

Rooting for Commey the hard bastard

Same

[Best Coast]

Too close to call just yet. Commey's KO of unbeaten Luna was VERY impressive!!

Here's highlights...

[KiwiRider]

easters not as good as i once thought hed be

thought he was lucky vs fortuna and he couldve easily lost the first commey fight too. shafikov fight was also really competitive and the cards were f@cking awful, been some bad ones on these ohio cards

I had the same epiphany about Easter. I thought he was pretty decent until his last two fights where his skill level was tested.

[Ruthless-RKO]

If Easter is due his mandatory by the IBF, how is he going to fight Garcia?

I thought IBF were strict on their mandatorys?

[Perseus]

IBF has a rule that allows unifications with the WBC, WBO or WBA to take precedence over a mandatory defense.