Beterbiev-Murat Bout in Play, Gonzalez Takes a Pass

By Luke Furman

Light heavyweight contender Artur Beterbiev (9-0, 9KOs) is having a very difficult time finding an opponent to face him an IBF final eliminator on November 28th at the Videotron Centre in Quebec, Canada. The event will be headlined by James DeGale defending his IBF super middleweight championship against Canadian superstar Lucian Bute.

Whoever Beterbiev ends up fighting, the winner will become the mandatory challenger to WBA/IBF/WBO champion Sergey Kovalev.

Beterbiev was ordered to face several names in the IBF eliminator and many of them pass on the opportunity. A few days ago Sullivan Barrera dropped out, so Beterbiev's team turned their attention to IBF #11 Yunieski Gonzalez (16-1, 12KOs), who lost a very close ten round decision to former champion Jean Pascal on July 25th.

Gonzalez has also passed on the fight, according to RDS.

The next candidate being discussed is German contender Karo Murat (27-2-1, 17 KOs), who already told the IBF that he would agree to face Beterbiev in a final eliminator.

The two sides have been given ten days to reach a deal or the IBF will order a purse bid.

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org