Subriel Matias and Shohjahon Ergashev can now move forward with their long-ago ordered clash.
TGB Promotions—on behalf of Premier Boxing Champions (PBC)—secured promotional rights to the mandatory IBF junior welterweight title fight with a $510,000 offer during Tuesday’s purse bid hearing. The amount surpassed that of Salita Promotions, Ergashev’s promoter who posted $225,000 in an effort to land the attractive matchup.
No other promoters participated in the purse bid hearing.
Per purse bid terms, Matias-Ergashev must take place within the next 90 days. Matias is entitled to 70 percent ($357,000) of the winning bid as the defending titlist. Ergashev is due the remaining 30 percent ($153,000) as the mandatory challenger.
The session ended a near two-month process from when the fight was first ordered on June 28. The two sides were unable to reach a deal but were granted a one-week postponement from last week’s originally ordered purse bid in hopes of coming to terms. That did not work out, which led to Tuesday’s session.
Puerto Rico’s Matias (19-1, 19KOs) won the 140-pound title 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. Their bout came with the vacant belt at stake in lieu of the final leg of a previously ordered four-man box-off to determine the mandatory challenger to then-champ Josh Taylor (19-1, 13KOs).
The win was the fourth in a row for the 31-year-old from Fajardo, Puerto Rico since his lone defeat. Matias dropped a ten-round decision to Petros Ananyan in February 2020 but stopped the Los Angeles-based Armenian in the ninth round of their rematch last January 22 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Ergashev (23-0, 20KOs) was prepared to enter his first title eliminator but could not find a willing opponent after the IBF ran through the entire Top 15 junior welterweight rankings.
The 31-year-old Uzbek, now based in Detroit, 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.
Boxers are not permitted to enter another fight once ordered by the IBF—or any other sanctioning body—to enter a sanctioned title bout or eliminator. This ruling is significant given the only other discussed title fight during this period, as PBC representatives sought to have Matias face former 140-pound titlist Sergey Lipinets.
For now, it appears that Matias-Ergashev will finally makes its way to the ring.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox