After becoming a unified light flyweight champion in his last fight, Hekkie Budler has now vacated one of his world titles.
According to reports, Budler has vacated his IBF title after winning it, along with the WBA title with a win over Ryoichi Taguchi back in May. This comes after promoter Sampson Lewkowicz won a purse bid for a fight between Budler and IBF mandatory challenger Felix Alvarado.
The purse bid was noteworthy due to the winning bid being only $25,000 with 75 percent going to Budler ($18,750) and the other 25 percent going to Alvarado ($6,250). With the title vacant, the organization had no other choice but to choose the next-highest ranked available contender to fight Alvarado for the vacant title.
The IBF has now ordered former interim champion Randy Petalcorin to fight Alvarado for the vacant title. Petalcorin is the current No. 3 fighter in the IBF rankings at 108 pounds, but if the fight between Alvarado and Petalcorin could not be made soon, then the title shot against Alvarado would be given to Tetsuya Hisada, the No. 4 ranked fighter.
Budler's reign as the IBF champion ends at about two months with no title defenses. Budler still has the WBA title, but he holds the "super" version of the title. The WBA "regular" champion is Carlos Canizales, who retained his title against Lu Bin on the undercard of Manny Pacquiao's WBA welterweight title win over Lucas Matthysse earlier in July.
