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Home » Crawford drops IBF title, Lipinets v Kondo vacant clash agreed

Crawford drops IBF title, Lipinets v Kondo vacant clash agreed

Terence Crawford, who recently won the strap from Julius Indongo, has decided against a defense opposite number one contender Sergei Lipinets.

‘Bud’ is expected to move up to welterweight in the near future and could be set to leave more of his belts behind in the coming weeks.

In a statement on Thursday, the IBF said: “Jr. Welterweight Champion Terence Crawford officially vacated the IBF Title today.

“The leading available contenders according to the current list of IBF Jr. Welterweight rankings are #1, Sergei Lipinets and #3, Akihiro Kondo.

“Both boxers have indicated in writing they are willing to participate in the fight for the vacant IBF Jr. Welterweight title.

“The IBF has ordered Lipinets and Kondo to fight for the vacant title and their respective teams should start negotiating immediately.

“They have until September 30, 2017, to come to an agreement. If an agreement isn’t reached by then, the IBF will order a purse bid.”

Crawford has already been linked to an interim WBO welterweight title bout for the winner of Manny Pacquiao v Jeff Horn II, although has several options for when he finally decides to hit 147.

Top Rank stablemates are usually the way Bob Arum keeps things in-house, meaning the likes of Jessie Vargas and Mike Alvarado are likely opponents.