IBF lightweight champion Vasily Lomachenko has been granted a medical exception by the sanctioning body to allow him to retain his title.

IBF ruling

Meanwhile, the IBF has ordered No. 2 Raymond Muratalla and No. 4 Zaur Abdullaev to fight for the interim 135-pound belt. Lomachenko (18-3, 12 KOs) must defend his IBF title against the winner of Muratala Abdullayev before October 8 to retain his belt.

It’s a tough decision the 36-year-old Lomachenko must make as he needs the IBF title to help him negotiate a unification fight with WBA champion Gervonta “The Tank” Davis.

However, Loma doesn’t have the money to fight the winner of the Muratalev-Abdulaev fight because neither of them are well-known to the average boxing fan. Furthermore, if Lomachenko ends up facing Muratala (22-0, 17 KOs), it will be a brutal fight for him. That guy can punch and is one of the most dangerous lightweights in the division.

If the IBF allowed Lomachenko to bypass the winner so he could fight Tank, that would be a way to bypass the Muratala-Abdulaev fight.

Abdullaev (20-1, 12 KOs) has lost his only career since losing to Devin Haney via fourth-round stoppage on September 13, 2019. , he has won his past nine games. Haney scored a perfect knockout in that fight. If they fight again, Abdullayev will probably beat Haney because he looked so good before being stopped.