Hall vs Butler rejected by the IBF

Stuart Hall’s (16-2 7KOs) request to make a voluntary defence of his IBF title against Paul Butler (15-0 8KOs) has been rejected by the sanctioning body.[

This was confirmed by IBF Championships Chairman, Lindsey Tucker who told Livefight that Hall must now face mandatory challenger Randy Caballero (21-0 13KOs).

“He [Hall] filed for and exception but the board denied the exception so he now has to fight Caballero within, I think, it was 90 days,” said Tucker.

Hall’s request was heard by the IBF board, with over 50% voting against him being allowed an exception to make a second voluntary defence.

“There’s 11 people on the board and all we need is six of them to go one way. I think the vast majority of them voted “no”. They didn’t feel he should have the optional fight right now so he has to face his mandatory.”

Source: livefight.

Sucks to be Frank Warren at the moment!


The IBF are being pretty harsh with the bantamweight belt...
Stripped McDonnell before he'd had a chance to arrange a defence and enforcing these mandatories like crazy...

Bizarre. 

Maybe they're not keen on that belt being in England or something.

Hobson is the promoter Rob.

I wouldn't say they're being too harsh in this case, he can't defend against successive domestic opponents in Ward and Butler, makes a mockery of the system.

It's not good but why is it a mockery.....??

In the space of 8 defences of his WBO title Eubank fought..

Ray Close x 2 , Nigel Benn, Sam Storey, Henry Wharton and Steve Collins........6/8 Brits.

Benn, Wharton and Collins weren't domestic fighters Truss, they were all at world level something neither Ward or Butler are while Close was at least the European champion at the weight. I'd only regard Storey out of those six as a domestic level fighter the rest were a level or two above.

I never rated Collins Mate......Or Wharton

But I'll concede the point..

How do we get to the stage where tickets have been sold before the IBF reject the fight?

I didn't rate Collins either, got lucky four times and made a career out of it, pre Watson and Mclellan he gets not only beaten but knocked out. Wharton like the rest of them was one tough SOB so provided good entertainment when he fought just like Castro Smith and the like.

You've probably chosen the wrong division and wrong era to be honest with you Truss, the 168lb division with the odd exception in the early 90's was very britcentric.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:Hobson is the promoter Rob.

I wouldn't say they're being too harsh in this case, he can't defend against successive domestic opponents in Ward and Butler, makes a mockery of the system.

I know. 

But the opponent is Butler and the fight is on Boxnation. 
Warren saw this as an opportunity to get a world title holder back on his books.

Guess he doesnt quite have the stroke with the IBF as he does with the WBO

I always thought Collin's exposed Eubank and Co as big fish in a small pond. They were making more money that the Jame's Toney's and RJJ's at the time by fighting each other.

Collin's lost the three times he fought at elite world class but well beat a 28 year old Eubank.

You always ignore the effect that the Watson and Mclellen fights had on the pair Strongy, you can't downplay what those fights did to the pair. Mentally in the case of Eubank who scored only two knockouts in his 19 subsequent title fights while Benn was physically finished by Gman.

Hammersmith harrier wrote:You always ignore the effect that the Watson and Mclellen fights had on the pair Strongy, you can't downplay what those fights did to the pair. Mentally in the case of Eubank who scored only two knockouts in his 19 subsequent title fights while Benn was physically finished by Gman.

Eubank was a young man and fought on having credible displays against Calzaghe and Thompson.

Eubank was a lazy fighter and just got out hustled and outworked by Collin's. Collin's won the first fight well despite nearly getting knocked out.

His age has nothing to do with it, he was a natural born fighter and his sensitivity combined with the Watson tragedy was never going to end well, he was a shell of the fighter he was once was. Pre Watson he finishes the job against Collins no question.

He wasn't a shell of a fighter particularly in the first fight. Eubank says Collins beat a good version of himself. It still pains Eubank that such a crude fight beat him.

While physically he wasn't a shell, mentally he could no longer step it up and look for the knockout, Collins likes to think of himself as some clever world class fighter but he was just plain lucky.

I have to say i dont like collins either hes not my era so you guys will know more then me on him but he always comes accross as having a massive chip on his shoulder

....You'd have a chip if Roy jones kept ducking you  

I was no collins fan, but he was better than many give him credit for. It took very good fighters to beat him and they generally knew they'd been in a fight.

Benn was shot against him, the Eubank fights were a bit weird, the whole hypnosis thing, it certainly wasn't the best we saw of Eubank, and when he did finally catch him he seemed reluctant to really follow it up. That said there are always excuses for defeats and eubank was laboured in plenty of defences before then.

Just thought I'd update this, last night I emailed the IBF asking for clarity on the situation. They said that when the news was broken by livefight.com it was correct, however since then Golden Boy Promotions have contacted the IBF had informed them that they have no objections to the Hall vs Butler fight happening first. So looks like this could go ahead after all.

Earlier in the day this was the case. However, at 5:30PM yesterday Golden Boy Promtions, Caballero's promoter, notified the IBF that they were not opposed to Hall fighting Butler first. So it appears that Hall vs. Butler will happen.

http://www.v2boxing.com/1/post/2014/05/hall-vs-butler-on-or-off.html

Good stuff from the IBF. Have their title held by a guy who probably isnt even in the top ten in his division. Allow him to defend against another guy not in the top ten in the division. Appoint a mandatory defence against a guy who doesnt want to be mandatory. And when he passes on the fight allow another defence against a guy who isnt in the top ten. And check with Dick Schaefer for permission before making any decisions.

catchweight wrote:Good stuff from the IBF. Have their title held by a guy who probably isnt even in the top ten in his division. Allow him to defend against another guy not in the top ten in the division. Appoint a mandatory defence against a guy who doesnt want to be mandatory. And when he passes on the fight allow another defence against a guy who isnt in the top ten. And check with Dick Schaefer for permission before making any decisions.

LOL!!

Eubank was way below par against Collins - the 10 fight deal with Sky (or was it still BSkyB?) has drained him physically and mentally, he was desperate not to hurt anyone (hence the fact he stood off Collins after flooring him).

Collins is vastly overrated in my opinion.