Josh Taylor Reportedly Stripped Of IBF Title, Purse Bid Vs. Jeremias Ponce Off
Josh Taylor is now left with the WBO super lightweight title.
That’s according to a report by talkSPORT’s Michael Benson. On Friday afternoon, Benson tweeted that Top Rank CEO Bob Arum said Taylor vacated his IBF super lightweight title because the Scottish boxer is targeting a rematch with Jack Catterall, just defending his WBO belt.
Bob Arum has indicated that Josh Taylor has now vacated his IBF super-lightweight world title (after previously also vacating the WBA & WBC) as he’s said Taylor will be going into the Jack Catterall rematch defending just the WBO belt. [@talkSPORT]
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) August 19, 2022
Taylor entered 2022 as an undisputed champion.
But after winning a highly controversial fight against Catterall in February, he’s been attempting to get a rematch to settle down the critics and, also, to settle the score.
Taylor was forced to vacate his WBC and WBA titles after skipping out on his two mandatory challengers.
On July 7, the IBF ordered Taylor and mandatory fighter Jeremias Ponce to begin negotiations for the ordered defense, but they did not reach an agreement, thus being sent into a purse bid.
But on Monday afternoon, boxing insider Dan Rafael announced that the IBF cancelled the August 23 purse bid.
The IBF canceled Monday’s purse bid for the Josh Taylor vs. Jeremias Ponce mandatory title fight. #boxing
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) August 22, 2022
Boxing Scene previously reported that Taylor was going to go through with the defense against Ponce, but now that seems unclear.
Taylor recently reiterated that the only fight he wants is a rematch against Catterall. Catterall recently signed a multi-fight agreement with BOXXER, which reportedly helped him get closer to the rematch he requested immediately after the loss.