Boxer Canelo Alvarez stripped of IBF title

Aug. 2 (UPI) -- The International Boxing Federation has stripped Canelo Alvarez of his middleweight title after the fighter failed to agree to a mandatory title defense bout against Sergiy Derevyanchenko.

Canelo won the IBF title in May by beating Daniel Jacobs. The win gave him the IBF, WBA and WBC title belts. The IBF decision angered Canelo's promoter Oscar De La Hoya.

"We are extremely disappointed at the IBF for forcing the world's best fighter to relinquish his world title," De La Hoya said Thursday in a news release.

De La Hoya said his team has been in negotiations with Derevyanchenko's promoter and offered his team an "unprecedented amount of money for a fighter of his limited stature and limited popularity." De La Hoya also said Derevyanchenko's team never had any intention of making a deal for the bout. He also called the alleged plot to get Canelo to "relinquish" his belt an "insult to boxing."

"This decision validates already existing concerns about the credibility of the IBF championship," De La Hoya said. "Canelo inherited a mandatory challenger by defeating Daniel Jacobs, the man who beat Derevyanchenko, so to strip him of his title without giving him enough time to make the best fight possible is truly what is wrong with boxing, and I plan to aggressively consider all legal actions possible."

Alvarez, 29, owns a 52-1-2 record and has 35 knockouts. Alvarez's only career loss came to Floyd Mayweather Jr. on Sept. 14, 2013.