Taylor vacates IBF title!

By G. Leon

11/10/2005

Taylor vacates IBF title!

World middleweight champion Jermain Taylor has vacated the IBF title as of yesterday evening.  Taylor's promoter, Lou DiBella wrote to the IBF saying, "pressure with respect to multiple mandatories and the payment of 12% of his purses in sanctioning fees makes retaining all the titles a near impossible proposition."  DiBella told Boxingtalk today, "you cant fight four mandatories at one time." Given that Taylor's status as the top 160-pounder in the world is unassailable, he is fighting Bernard Hopkins next, who is a far more worthy challenger than IBF #1 Sam Soliman, and that the IBF, WBC, WBA and WBO all have rules calling for 3% of a boxer's purse to be collected for sanctioning fees, Taylor decided to save himself some money and allow others to compete for the IBF belt. Previously, Taylor offered in writing to make Soliman his next defense should he defeat Hopkins on December 3, 2005, but after years of saying he wanted the chance to win a world championship, Soliman instead opted to face Winky Wright with no title on the line. Soliman-Wright has not been formally announced, but Boxingtalk's sources say the IBF is prepared to sanction Kingsley Ikeke, its #2 contender, against a lower-rated contender, possibly Felix Sturm or Arthur Abraham, for its now-vacant trinket. (6PM EST)