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Joshua Buatsi will have to explore another route to get into the light heavyweight title mix.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that the IBF has reneged on the existing purse offer for England’s Buatsi to face former lineal champion Jean Pascal in a light heavyweight title eliminator. The signed contracts were to be returned to the IBF by September 15, with a courtesy extension granted until Tuesday night before the sanctioning body decided to cancel the previously ordered fight.
Quebec’s Pascal will be ordered to face the next highest-ranked available contender in the IBF light heavyweight rankings. Had the original deadline been honored, former WBO champion Joe Smith Jr. would have been next in line. However, the latest rankings update saw Germany’s Michael Eifert (11-1, 4KOs) move up one spot ahead of the Long Island, New York native and he is expected to receive an IBF invite sometime on Wednesday. .
DiBella Entertainment, founded and run by Hall of Fame promoter Lou DiBella, secured the rights to Buatsi-Pascal during a bid hearing on August 30. DiBella posted a winning bid of $975,000, beating Buatsi’s promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, who offered $875,000 as the only other bidder.
Buatsi (16-0, 13KOs) would have earned $585,000 based on 60 percent of the winning bid as the highest ranked challenger. Pascal (36-6-1, 20KOs) would have earned $390,000, or 40 percent of the offer. Buatsi is ranked number three by the IBF, which has Pascal at number six.
Both fighters accepted an invitation from the IBF on July 22 to enter talks for their final title eliminator, to determine the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger to unified light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev. Pascal entered the mix after Anthony Yarde (22-2, 21KOs) at number four and Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez (44-0, 30KOs) at number five missed the opportunity due to their commitment to splitting fights. for the title with other sanctioning bodies. .
Yarde was previously due to challenge Beterbiev (18-0, 18KOs) as the WBO’s mandatory challenger, though their fight scheduled for October 29 in London was delayed as Beterbiev continues to recover from knee surgery earlier this summer. Yarde will likely take a fight to keep himself busy while he awaits his title shot.
Ramirez of Mexico is confirmed to face WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol (20-0, 11KOs) on November 5 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. A deal for that fight was struck at the last minute, canceling a purse offer hearing scheduled for Aug. 21 just a couple of hours before the session began.
The talks never went very far. Hearn has been tasked with reaching a deal with Pascal, who is represented by veteran manager Greg Leon. A deal was never reached in the allotted time frame, although Hearn has gone on record that there are big plans in store for Buatsi later this year.
Those plans remain to be seen after going through a national title fight with England’s Callum Johnson and now that Buatsi has been removed from the IBF mix.
Tentative plans called for Buatsi-Pascal to take place in the UK, giving London’s Buatsi a regional advantage, although DiBella planned to appear at a Queensberry Promotions show. Buatsi’s representatives, including Matchroom Boxing president Eddie Hearn, insisted that the 2016 Olympic bronze medalist and current top contender would go ahead with the fight.
However, the claim was accompanied by concerns about drug testing standards, drawing attention to Pascal testing positive ahead of his canceled June 2021 rematch with Badou Jack.
The September 14 deadline approached with only Pascal on board. Conflicting information has come in as to why Buatsi did not meet the terms of the bourse’s offer. Both parties agree that a belated demand from the Buatsi Team regarding specific drug testing standards is written into the contract.
Buatsi’s side maintains that they did not receive a contract from DiBella Entertainment until the morning of September 14, the day of the deadline, at which time an extension was requested and granted. Subsequent correspondence was limited to a written request for clarification on the VADA tests.
Pascal’s side insists that such documentation has already been sent to VADA and that the tests would have started once the IBF has received the contracts. Had both parties returned the contracts by the September 14 deadline, testing would have started immediately.
BoxingScene.com has verified that VADA was in possession of documentation signed and completed by both boxers, with instructions to begin testing once IBF contracts were submitted.
The development will leave Pascal with a new round of negotiations rather than a return to the ring in a timely manner. He is still one win away from being guaranteed another shot at becoming light heavyweight champion.
Pascal, 39, previously held the WBC light heavyweight title after a June 2009 points victory over undefeated countryman Adrian Diaconu. Four successful defenses followed, including an August 2010 technical unanimous decision victory over Chad Dawson to establish championship lineage.
Pascal’s reign ended with a points loss to Hall of Fame two-division champion Bernard Hopkins in their May 2011 rematch in Montreal, five months after fighting to a draw in Quebec City. He returned to the title stage following a technical decision victory over then-undefeated Marcus Browne in August 2019 on the road in Brooklyn, winning a secondary version of the WBA light heavyweight title after three previous unsuccessful attempts at the title. completely held by Sergey Kovalev (twice) and Dmitry Bivol.
The victory over Browne was followed by a thrilling split decision win over Jack in their December 2019 showdown in Atlanta, in which both fighters hit the canvas. The two were due to meet again last June 6 in Miami Gardens, Florida, only for Pascal to test positive for multiple banned substances through VADA-contracted testing.
Since then, Pascal has proven to be a clean fighter and remains a standout player at light heavyweight following a twelve-round unanimous decision win over the previously undefeated Meng Fanlong on May 20 in Plant City, Florida.
Fanlong entered the fight as the number one contender and hoping to challenge Beterbiev. Pascal scuttled those plans, dropping Fanlong in the ninth round of their ProBox TV main event en route to a competitive but unanimous decision in his first fight after a 28-month layoff.
If Eifert accepts the IBF’s invitation to enter talks and eventually face Pascal, it will mark a huge jump in the competition.
The 24-year-old from Magdeburg, Germany has wrestled exclusively in Germany and against opposition on a national level. He has won five in a row following his only loss, an eight-round majority decision to undefeated countryman Tom Dzemski in August 2020.
Eifert has since avenged the loss, outpointing Dzemski over ten rounds last July in Magdeburg. Two more wins followed, including a ten-round decision over Adriana Sperandino on a July 16 show in Magedburg that aired live on ESPN+ in the US.
If Pascal-Eifert heads to auction, Pascal will be entitled to the favorable end of a 60/40 split as the top-ranked contender.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox
