Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s camp have threatened legal action following the IBF’s decision to strip the Mexican of his middleweight title.
Canelo, widely regarded as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, outpointed Daniel Jacobs to take the title in Las Vegas in May.
But the governing body have now stripped the 29-year-old of the belt after he failed to agree a meeting with the IBF’s mandatory challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Former world champion Oscar De La Hoya, Canelo’s promoter and Golden Boy Promotions CEO, has slammed the decision, insisting Derevyanchenko never had any intention of taking the fight despite being offered “an unprecedented amount of money.”
A statement read: “We are extremely disappointed at the IBF for forcing the world's best fighter to relinquish his world title. We have been in serious negotiations with Sergiy Derevyanchenko's promoter.
"We offered his team an unprecedented amount of money for a fighter of his limited stature and limited popularity, but the truth is that I'm now certain they never had any intention of making a deal. But instead they wanted to force us to relinquish Canelo's belt. This is an insult to boxing and more importantly an insult to the boxing fans of the world.
"This decision validates already existing concerns about the credibility of the IBF championship.
"Canelo inherited a mandatory challenger by defeating Daniel Jacobs, the man who beat Derevyanchenko, so to strip him of his title without giving him enough time to make the best fight possible is truly what is wrong with boxing, and I plan to aggressively consider all legal actions possible."
