IBF

Belfast’s IBF world welterweight champion Lewis Crocker says he hopes that a victory over Australian Liam Paro in his next fight can open the door to a unification bout with another belt holder in the division.

Crocker is set to defend his title in Australia, with May the likely month for the contest and the Queensland city of Townsville seeming like the probable venue.

The 29-year-old won the title with a split decision verdict over Paddy Donovan at Belfast’s Windsor Park in September and his team had hoped to stage the defence against mandatory challenger Paro back in his home city.

However, with no agreement reached between both parties, the matter was resolved by a purse bid with No Limit outbidding Crocker’s promoter Matchroom by $27,000 (£20,000).

When asked by BBC Sport NI’s Thomas Kane where he hoped a potential win over Paro could lead, Crocker replied: “The biggest fight possible. Unification, which is something I feel I deserve if I get through Paro.

“You look at the names in the division as well, everything’s massive. You have Garcia [Ryan, WBC champion], Haney [Devin, WBO holder], Rolly [Rolando Romero, WBA champion] and Benn [currently ranked number one challenger by the WBC] there so there’s so much to gain from this fight for the winner.

“Any of the big boys because it will be easy to make. We all want a unification in the division, we all want to become undisputed.”

Jai Opetaia is set to lose his IBF cruiserweight title if he goes ahead with a fight against Brandon Glanton on Sunday.

Opetaia is scheduled to fight Glanton for the inaugural Zuffa Boxing World Cruiserweight title but the IBF said it has “withdrawn sanction of the optional defence” for its belt.

The IBF said that it had initially approved the bout as Opetaia’s team had told them the Zuffa Boxing fight in Las Vegas would not be a unification bout and that any belt awarded would be “characterised as a trophy or token of recognition”.

However, it added that following a news conference on Friday, it was “made it clear that the Zuffa World Cruiserweight title would still be contested” and, as the IBF does not recognise Zuffa Boxing, it was now an unsanctioned fight.

“For the purpose of unification of titles, the preeminent champions of the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) may be designated as ‘elite contenders’ and may be permitted to fight for the unified title,” said the IBF in a statement.

It added: “An unsanctioned contest is a fight which the IBF has not formally approved for sanction or where sanction has been formally withdrawn.

“If a champion participates in an unsanctioned contest within his prescribed weight limit, the title will be declared vacant whether the champion wins or loses the bout.”

Australian Opetaia, 30, also holds the Ring cruiserweight title.