Top Rank, who promote mandatory challenger Dennis Shafikov, won the IBF's mandatory purse bid for their fighter's crack at IBF lightweight champion Mickey Bey. Top Rank was the only bidder present and submitted an amount of $78,000, with a 75-25 split in favor of the champion.
The fight was scheduled to go forward on April 30th as part of an ESPN card from the Palms Casino in Las Vegas - part of Mayweather-Pacquiao fight week. But then the fight fell apart after Bey was apparently unhappy with the money being offered, $200,000. No word if the fight will still go forward as planned on the April date or get pushed over to a later time.
Bey captured the title last year with a close, and some felt controversial decision, over Miguel Vazquez, who holds a decision win over Shafikov.
