Frank Sanchez, the IBF's #1 heavyweight contender, has agreed to step aside, a move that clears the way for the August 29th fight between Moses Itauma and Filip Hrgovic to determine the next IBF heavyweight champion. The fight is scheduled to take place at London's O2 Arena. The IBF title became vacant earlier this year when world champion Oleksander Usyk vacated the IBF, WBA and WBC titles. Sanchez had put himself in the IBF's mandatory contender position by defeating Richard Torrez Jr. In May. The news of the IBF sanction was reported by the BBC, whose source was promoter Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions. Warren would not disclose how much Sanchez was paid to step aside but he added that a condition of the deal was that the winner of Itauma-Hrgovic would defend against the Cuban.

The 21 year-old Itauma is 14-0 with 12 KOs, including two quality wins (Jermaine Frankin and Dillian Whyte) in the last twelve months.

Hrgovic, 34 and from Croatia, is a 2016 Olympic medalist with three straight wins following a loss to Daniel Dubois, who currently holds the WBO version of the heavyweight championship. Hrgovic is credited with a record of 20-1, but Boxingtalk considers the World Series of Boxing (where Hrgovic campaigned from 2010-2015) to be professional, so we credit him with a pro record of 46-5. Recently, Hrgovic has defeated British heavyweights Dave Allen, Joe Joyce and David Adeleye since his career-first loss against Daniel Dubois in June 2024.