Why Isn’t Canelo v Berlanga For Undisputed? The IBF’s Strict Mandatory Policy Explained
When Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez fights Edgar Berlanga in Las Vegas on Saturday, three of the four super-middleweight world titles will be on the line.
Canelo (61-2-2 39 KO) will enter the T Mobile Arena ring with the WBC, WBA, and WBO belts against Berlanga (22-0-0 17 KO), with the winner emerging as the unified champion.
However, the opportunity to remain – or in Berlanga’s case, become – the undisputed 168lb champion was denied by the IBF when the sanctioning body stripped Canelo of its title for refusing to face mandatory challenger William Scull.
It continued the IBF’s hardline stance when it comes to its world champions fulfilling their mandatory duties – even the great and powerful Canelo is not exempt.
A quick scan through the weight classes will show the IBF’s consistency. Barely six weeks had passed since Oleksandr Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight world champion of the four-belt era when the Ukrainian vacated the IBF belt in June ahead of his rematch with Tyson Fury.
Usyk was required to face the IBF’s interim belt holder Daniel Dubois to retain his world title, but the contractually obligated rematch with Fury made it impossible, so he jumped before he was pushed.
Canelo One Of Many To Face IBF Consequences
At cruiserweight, Jai Opetaia first won the IBF’s world title in July 2022 by defeating then-champion Mairis Briedis. After one defense against Jordan Thompson, Opetaia was ordered to face Briedis in a rematch, but the Australian opted instead for a lucrative bout against Ellis Zoro in Saudi Arabia.
The IBF responded by stripping the champion. He won the vacant belt back in his next bout against Briedis – incidentally, in the co-main event to Usyk v Fury – and will make his first defense of his two-time status against Jack Massey next month.
The super-middleweight IBF title is currently vacant following Canelo’s refusal to fight Scull and will be awarded to the winner of the top-ranked Cuban’s bout against No 2 Vladimir Shishkin on October 19 in Germany.
At welterweight, Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis holds the IBF’s belt, and the Philadelphia fighter has been working to secure unification bouts in recent weeks. However, his position as champion is under threat after the IBF ordered him to fight mandatory challenger Karen Chukhadzhian, despite Ennis dominating the Ukrainian in a shutout points win just last year.
The order prompted Ennis’ promoter Eddie Hearn to accuse the IBF of “ruining boxing”, while the body was similarly unforgiving with Ennis’ predecessor. While the WBA, WBC, and WBO all waited for Terence Crawford to officially leave the division, the IBF had long stripped the champion last November for avoiding Boots when he was the interim champion.
There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to the IBF’s near-zero tolerance stance. On the plus side, it rewards fighters who have worked hard, been active, and secured results to climb the rankings and put themselves in a position to challenge for a world title. It also places the IBF’s world title above any fighter, regardless of his power and influence within the sport.
Positives And Negatives To IBF’s Policy
There are also instances where champions have either vacated or been stripped of the title that have resulted in subsequent mega-bouts – as will be the case on September 21. Dubois benefitted from the IBF’s policy by being elevated from interim to full champion, leading to his showdown with former two-time unified champion Anthony Joshua in London. This fight may never have been made had the IBF world title not been on the line.
But there are disadvantages, too. The policy can create unnecessary – and at times, insurmountable – obstacles when IBF title holders are attempting to unify a division, while undisputed champions can find it difficult to preserve their titles when the IBF continues to demand mandatory defenses above commitments to the other three sanctioning bodies.
This appears to be playing out with welterweight champion Ennis currently, while Tyson Fury also felt the consequences after becoming the unified heavyweight king against Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
There is also little room for logic or flexibility if a champion sustains an injury – as discovered by former super-featherweight title holder Joe Cordina, who damaged his hand ahead of his first title defense in 2022 and was immediately stripped.
So, why has the IBF adopted such a strict position? It’s generally agreed that it dates back to the mid-1990s through to the early 2000s when the IBF was engulfed in a bribery and corruption scandal.
In 1999, the IBF’s founder and president Robert Lee Sr was indicted on charges of accepting bribes from promoters and managers to manipulate the rankings. It threatened the future and very existence of the IBF just 16 years after its formation in 1983.
IBF Worked Hard To Revamp Image
“A culture of corruption has festered in the IBF virtually since its inception,” assistant US attorney Robert Cleary, who was prosecuting the case, said at the time. “The IBF ratings were not earned – they were bought. The crimes have bastardised the ratings in most of the weight classes.”
Lee was ultimately acquitted of the most serious charges but did serve 22 months in prison for money laundering and tax evasion. Also in 1999, the IBF found itself at the center of the controversy surrounding the outcome of the unified heavyweight bout between Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfied.
The fight was called a draw, despite everyone agreeing that Lewis won the fight comfortably. The only judge to score it in Holyfield’s favor was appointed by the IBF, prompting an investigation from New York law enforcement agencies.
Since then, the IBF has worked hard to revamp its image and rebuild trust within the boxing community. Among the measures it took was to avoid the distribution of unnecessary ‘super’, ‘franchise’ and ‘regular’ belts that became a staple of the WBA and WBO and threatened to dilute the importance of the actual world title.
The IBF also took a leading position in anti-doping measures and in the regulation of rehydration to prevent fighters adding too many pounds following the weigh-ins, thus limiting weight mismatches come fight night.
The IBF’s is far from a perfect system, and there are instances where greater common sense should be adopted when it comes to mandatory title defenses, but there is logic to its position.
