On August 6th, the IBF ordered its middleweight champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly to begin negotiations with Andrei Mikhailovich for Alimkhanuly's mandatory defense. On August 7th, the IBF received a written certification from Matt Rose on behalf of Mikhailovich indicating that they were no longer willing to participate in negotiations and requested an immediate purse bid pursuant to IBF Rule 10A. Included in Mr. Rose’s email was a request that the IBF change the purse bid split to 65% for Alimkhanuly as the the champion and 35% for Mikhailovich as the challenger. Typically the split is 75/25 in the champion's favor. In this case, the two men had been scheduled to fight in July, but the champion was hospitalized due to severe dehydration the day before the fight. nonetheless, the IBF decided that the purse bid split would remain at the traditional 75/25 split. However, the IBF did order a purse bid to take place on Tuesday, August 27th.