The pursuit begins to find a willing challenger for Subriel Matias.
Or, at least a mandatory contender.
BoxingScene.com has learned that the International Boxing Federation (IBF) has sent out an invitation to junior welterweight contenders Jack Catterall and Shohjahon Ergashev for a planned title eliminator. Representatives for both boxers three days from Wednesday to accept or decline the opportunity.
Catterall is promoted Ben Shalom’s Boxxer, while Ergashev is signed to Salita Promotions founded and headed by former title contender Dmitriy Salita.
Neither party immediately responded to an inquiry seeking confirmation or to gauge interest as this goes to publication. However, Boxing Scene has been made aware that Ergashev, the number four-ranked contender in the IBF ratings, is on board to enter the title eliminator. It remains unclear if Catterall—ranked number three by the IBF—will also accept.
England’s Catterall (26-1, 13KOs) has not fought since a controversial split decision defeat to then-undisputed 140-pound champion Josh Taylor (19-0, 13KOs) last February 26 in Glasgow, Scotland. Catterall scored an eighth-round knockdown, while both he and Taylor suffered point deductions late in the fight. Most observers had Catterall winning the fight, only for two of three judges to rule in favor of the defending champion.
The victory came at a cost to both boxers. Taylor has since vacated all but the WBO title, which he will defend versus Lopez on June 10, presumably in New York City. The fight came about after several postponements and an eventual cancellation of his rematch with Catterall, for whom he relinquished the WBC, WBA and IBF belts in lieu of honoring ordered mandatory title defenses for each title.
The final rescheduled date was on course of March 4, only for Taylor to reportedly suffer a torn plantar fascia which forced his withdrawal from the event. Soon thereafter came the news of his instead proceeding with a fight versus Lopez, a former unified lightweight champion now campaigning in the 140-pound division.
Catterall was left standing at the altar for the one title fight once within reach. For reasons only the sanctioning bodies can explain, the 29-year-old Brit was not inserted as the mandatory challenger for any of the four titles—including the WBO, for whom he entered the Taylor fight last February as the mandatory challenger.
Ergashev (23-0, 20KOs) will enter his first career title eliminator.
A potential fight with Catterall would mark an embraced step up in class for the 31-year-old Uzbek, now based in Detroit, who has struggled to secure willing opponents as he has advanced from prospect to contender. His most notable win to date came in a ten-round, unanimous decision over Mykal Fox in their February 2019 battle of unbeaten prospects.
Six wins have followed, most recently an eight-round decision over Luis Alberto Veron in a stay-busy fight last May 26 in his adopted Detroit hometown.
Should both boxers accept, the next step would be to formally order the fight along with a 30-day negotiation period. If Catterall declines, the IBF would then have to go down its rankings in order to find the next available boxer. Australia’s Liam Paro (23-0, 14KOs; IBF #5) and Steve Spark (16-2, 14KOs; IBF #8) are the next such contenders in line, as Jose Ramirez (27-1, 17KOs; IBF #6) and Teofimo Lopez (18-1, 13KOs; IBF #7) are already committed to upcoming fights.
The winner of the eventual title eliminator will be named the mandatory challenger to Matias (19-1, 19KOs). The lights-out puncher from Puerto Rico won the vacant IBF junior welterweight crown with a stoppage of Argentina’s Jeremias Ponce (30-1, 20KOs) after five rounds in their February 26 title fight from The Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox