A few weeks ago, a boxer from Kazakhstan announced that he did not intend to carry out a mandatory defense of the International Boxing Federation belt and relinquished his title. The Federation appointed Falcao and Michael Zerafa to participate in the fight for the vacant title, but the latter eventually chose the fight for the WBA title with Erislandy Lara.
In this situation, the place of the Australian will be taken by Gualtieri, who is the owner of the IBF intercontinental belt in the limit up to 72.5 kg. The last time a representative of Germany entered the pro ring was in September. Falcao has been waiting to return to the ring since last May.
The Brazilian takes first place in the IBF middleweight rankings, and Gualtieri is third.