By Team Beterbiev
MONTREAL - Artur Beterbiev (#2 IBF - 11-0, 11 KOs) saw another potential opponent stray from his path, as Sullivan Barrera (#7 IBF - 18-1-0, 13 KOs) walked away from the IBF lightweight title bout scheduled for April 21 in Miami, Florida.
It should be remembered that on February 2, GYM had won the official purse bid held by the IBF, by placing US $ 201,000 against US $ 181,000 by Barrera's promoter Main Events.
"Sullivan Barrera never signed his contract and never wanted to face Beterbiev despite his public pretensions. Regardless of the reasons he could say, the truth is he was afraid of Beterbiev," said GYM President Yvon Michel, from Le Cannet in France, where he is staying for business.
"We are very disappointed with the turn of events and Artur is as well," Michel added. "Artur continues his training, we will ask the IBF to qualify him as a mandatory challenger and we will wait for their decision. He's ready to face any kind of light heavyweight in the world! "
Barrera is another name from a long list of fighters who have refused to face Beterbiev in the IBF elimination process in order to nominate a mandatory challenger for the champion, Andre Ward (31-0, 15 KOs).
Russia's Sergey Kovalev (# 3 IBF - 30-1-1, 26 KO), Swedish contender Erik Skoglund (# 4 IBF - 26-0-0, 12 KW), America's Sean Monaghan (# 5 IBF - 28-0-0, 17 KOs) and Germany's Enrico Koelling (# 6 IBF - 22-1-0, 6 KOs) - refused the call when contacted to take part in the IBF eliminator with Beterbiev.