Russian Arthur Beterbiev and German Enrico Koelling will fight on August 31 for the right to become an mandatory challenger for the IBF title in the light heavyweights. The battle will take place in Las Vegas. On Wednesday, the Nevada State Athletic Commission approved the date of the fight. Also on this evening the fight between the WBO world champion American Jessie Magdaleno and Mexican Cesar Juarez is scheduled.
In July this year, Beterbiev reported that the promotion company GYM canceled his fight with Koelling, because under the terms of the company the Russian had to give up his claim to recognize the promo agreement as invalid, which Beterbiev refused to do. In May, a Russian boxer filed a lawsuit against GYM and promoter Ivon Michel about the recognition of the contract as invalid. According to him, the promoter did not fulfill contractual obligations.
The current owner of the IBF heavyweight champion belt is the American Andre Ward, who won the title in November 2016 in a fight with another Russian boxer Sergey Kovalev. The winner of the fight between Beterbiev and Koelling will get the right to meet Ward, who also owns the World Boxing Association (WBA) and WBO championship belts.
