The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE IBF mandatory elimination bout between Tureano Johnson and Sergiy Derevyanchencko is one step closer to coming to fruition as logistical talks continue.

DiBella Entertainment, the co-promoter of Derevyanchenko, won the mandatory purse bid set down by the IBF for the bout.

DiBella claimed the right of principal promoters with their winning bid of $121,000 and outdid the bid set forth by Johnson’s Golden Boy Promotions who offered $62,000. There will be a 50-50 purse split between the fighters following the bout, meaning each fighter will walk away with just over $60,000.

DiBella Entertainment now has less than two weeks to orchestrate a final deal and submit signed contracts from both camps to the IBF and approximately three months to finalise fight details, including date and venue.

“I don’t know where the fight is going to be yet,” Lou DiBella told ESPN’s Dan Rafel. “I offered Golden Boy a deal that would have put the fight on July 15 (on a Fox-televised Premier Boxing Champions card) but they didn’t get back to me in time, so it didn’t happen. And then they go and bid $62,000? Obviously, they didn’t want the fight. But I think it’s a hell of a fight. It’s real middleweight elimination fight and if Derevyanchenko can handle Johnson the way I think he can he’s beating a legitimate guy and it elevates him near the top of the division.”

The IBF mandated that Johnson must square off with Derevyanchenko of Ukraine to determine the challenger for Gennady Golovkin’s middleweight title.

Derevyanchenko, 31, and ranked second on the IBF challenger list, is undefeated in his young professional career thus far at 10-0, with 8 KOs. His last fight was a fifth round stoppage of Kemahl Russell in March.

Johnson, 31, returned to the ring in May after being sidelined for nearly a year-and-a-half with a second round knockout over Fabiano Pena. He improved to 20-1, 14 knockouts.

Both fighters represented their respective countries at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The winner will then attempt to outbox the dominant Golovkin and blemish his spotless 37-0, 33KOs record.

Johnson was originally intended to face Golovkin last April. However, the fight never took place for a myriad of reasons.

The Pena fight was Johnson’s first fight under Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions stable since making the switch in September 2015, a move that was expected to send him on the fast track to an eventual title shot and prominence in the division.

He injured his shoulder in a unanimous decision win over Irishman Eamonn O’Kane on October 17, 2015. With the win, he became the mandatory No.1 contender. He further damaged the rotator cuff just ahead of his scheduled fight with Golovkin.

Johnson was granted a medical extension by the IBF but exceeded the permitted time for a mandatory challenger to remain inactive.

Golovkin is set to defend his world titles against Saul “Canelo” Alvarez on September 16th at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.