On August 23rd, the IBF ordered Eduardo Nunez and Zelfa Barrett to begin negotiations for an IBF junior lightweight "box off." An agreement was not reached within the time frame allowed by the sanctioning body, so the IBF has scheduled a purse bid for Tuesday, September 19th at 12:00 PM. Barrett, from the United Kingdom, is 29-2. He lost a competitive 2022 challenge for the IBF title to Shavkatdzhon Rakhimov. Joe Cordina then defeated Rakhimov and is now the reigning IBF title holder. Nunez, form Mexico, is 24-1. His lone loss came early in his career, and though he has never fought outside of Mexico, he has stepped up his level of competition lately.
WBC title / Sept. 7, 2023: Matchroom's principal Eddie Hearn has announced a world title fight for Cancun, Mexico on October 28th. Hearn says O'Shaquie Foster will defend the WBC 130-pound title against Mexico's Eduardo "Rocky" Hernandez on a DAZN broadcast. From Texas, Foster is 20-2 and won the vacant title against Rey Vargas in February. Hernandez is 34-1 with six wins in a row since a 2019 loss to Roger Gutierrez (who went on to win a WBA title).
WBO title / Aug. 12, 2023: Emanuel Navarrete defeated former two-division champion Oscar Valdez in a classic Mexican war held in Glendale, Arizona. Navarrete, a three-division champion, retained the WBO super featherweight championship by unanimous decision. The official scores were 116-112, 118-110 and 119-109. Navarrete threw 1038 punches according to Compubox, outlanding Valdez 216-140. Valdez finished with swelling plus a deep bruise under his right eye.
WBA title / Aug. 10, 2023: Otar Eranosyan maintained his spotless professional record, defeating Roger Gutierrez in a WBA super featherweight elimination bout at the Whitesands Events Center, in Plant City, Florida. From the Republic of Georgia but now fighting out of Florida, Eranosyan defeated the former WBA title holder by technical knockout in the eighth round, After the end of the first round, the strategy of each boxer was clear... In the eighth round, Eranosyan showed total dominance. Gutierrez began the round bleeding from his right eyebrow and from then on, he had no answer. Eranosyan delivered punches at will and Gutierrez was unable to respond, to the point that the bell saved him from what seemed an imminent trip to the canvas. Before the ninth round started, the referee Christopher Young decided to stop the fight causing confusion among those present. At the time of the stoppage, the scorecards read 77-72 and 78-71 (twice) for Eranosyan, who is now 14-0 and the mandatory contender for Hector Luis Garcia..
