ERICKSON LUBIN is in line again to get the title shot that a hand injury forced him to turn down late in the summer.
Boxing News has learned that the IBF has ordered a junior middleweight elimination match between Lubin and Ardreal Holmes that will determine the mandatory challenger for its 154-pound champion, Bakhram Murtazaliev. The left-handed Lubin (26-2, 18 KOs), the IBF’s No. 3 contender, passed on an opportunity to fight for Murtazaliev’s championship October 17 in Lubin’s hometown of Orlando, Florida.
Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs) instead defended his IBF belt against Australia’s Tim Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs). The former WBO junior middleweight champ entered the ring as a 7-1 favorite, but Russia’s Murtazaliev overwhelmed Tszyu, dropped him four times overall and stopped him in the third round of a 12-round main event that was streamed by Amazon’s Prime Video from Caribe Royale Orlando.
Holmes (16-0, 6 KOs), a southpaw from Flint, Michigan, is ranked seventh by the IBF, but he was the next leading available contender in its rankings.
The top two spots in the IBF’s 154-pound ratings are unoccupied. The Lubin-Holmes winner, assuming they fight, would earn that No. 1 position.
Tom Brown and Dmitriy Salita, the respective promoters for Lubin and Holmes, have been given until 5 p.m. ET Sunday by the IBF to formerly acknowledge interest in putting together a Lubin-Holmes match.
Holmes, however, must defeat Haiti’s Edwine Humaine Jr. (9-0, 7 KOs) on Thursday night in Flint to remain in contention to battle Lubin.
DAZN will stream Holmes-Humaine as the 10-round main event of a 10-bout card from Dort Federal Credit Union Event Center. Coverage of the Holmes-Junior undercard is scheduled to begin at 11 p.m. GMT in the UK (6 p.m. ET in the United States).
Lubin, meanwhile, hasn’t fought in more than 14 months. He upset previously unbeaten southpaw Jesus Ramos (21-1, 17 KOs) in his last fight, a 12-rounder Lubin won by unanimous decision on the Canelo Alvarez-Jermell Charlo undercard in September 2023 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
