Boxing News: (Vacant IBF Title fight) Derevyanchenko and Jacobs are expected to fight either October 20 or October 27. Their bout will be broadcast by HBO, the premium cable network with which Jacobs has an exclusive contract. Derevyanchenko and Jacobs both are trained by Andre Rozier and are frequent sparring partners. Rozier confirmed to BoxingScene.com last week that he’ll prepare Jacobs for their 12-round, 160-pound title bout because he has worked with Jacobs since the Brooklyn native was 14 years old. Ukraine’s Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KOs) is the IBF’s top-ranked middleweight contender. Jacobs (34-2, 29 KOs) is rated No. 3 among the IBF’s 160-pound contenders, but he is the next available contender to battle Derevyanchenko for the IBF’s unclaimed crown because the No. 2 spot in its rankings is vacant. Derevyanchenko, 32, and Jacobs, 31, will fight for a title the IBF stripped from Gennady Golovkin on June 6. The IBF took its middleweight championship from Kazakhstan’s Golovkin because the sanctioning organization determined Golovkin didn’t adhere to the stipulations of an exemption it granted him to fight Vanes Martirosyan on May 5 in Carson, California. The IBF refused to sanction Golovkin-Martirosyan as a title bout because Martirosyan, a late replacement for Canelo Alvarez, is a junior middleweight who hadn’t fought in nearly two years. The IBF allowed Golovkin to keep its middleweight title as long as Golovkin agreed to defend it next against Derevyanchenko, who was his mandatory challenger. #keepitrealboxing #boxing #danieljacobs #sergiyderevyanchenko #ggg #ibf
