IBF Strips Kelvin Davis!

By Scott Shaffer

16/02/2005

IBF Strips Kelvin Davis!

Muhammad skips purse bid process

The IBF has taken the cruiserweight championship away from Kelvin Davis and declared the title vacant. Davis' attorney Mark Schopper has received a letter informing that Davis has been stripped under IBF rule 4, which deals with the failure of a champion to fulfill a contract for a championship bout. Davis recently filed for bankruptcy protection but remains willing to make his mandatory defense against O'Neill Bell. Apparently, in the world of IBF president Marian Muhammad, being broke is now a strippable offense. Schopper is planning to appeal, but the IBF rules require an outrageous $10,000 fee from the bankrupt Davis in order to consider any appeal. Because of previous critical articles, the IBF has a long-standing policy of not speaking to Boxingtalk. An e-mail was sent by Boxingtalk to the sanctioning body's attorney on Tuesday but no response was received. We would love to hear how Muhammad or anyone from the IBF could possibly explain its failure to order a purse-bid when a champion and mandatory challenger want to fight each other but were unable to come to terms.  Check back soon as Boxingtalk plans to have MUCH more on this story.