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The International Boxing Organization has reached a verbal sanctioning agreement to fill its light heavyweight championship, which was declared vacant in May.
IBO President Ed Levine said the organization “has been engaged in final negotiations with a qualified and highly-respected fighter” in the division and anticipates a deal being finalized soon.
A fight to crown a new champion is planned for the fall.
“We very much appreciate the volume of inquiries we received during the process,” Levine said, “but we are not accepting further sanction requests at this time for this title.”
Due to the confidentiality of the negotiations, a further announcement naming the fighters will not be made until consummation of the agreement.
The IBO championship at 175 pounds has long been the signature title in the weight class, with former belt-holders like Roy Jones Jr., Antonio Tarver, Bernard Hopkins, Glen Johnson, Chad Dawson and Jean Pascal. Several of the division’s biggest fights over the last decade were sanctioned solely by the IBO, including Tarver-Johnson I and II, Tarver-Jones III, Hopkins-Tarver and Dawson-Johnson II.
