Report: Tevin Farmer To Defend IBF Title Against Francisco Fonseca On Canelo vs. Fielding Card
Tevin Farmer is set to fight in a world title bout for the third time in less than five months.
Farmer and former world title challenger Francisco Fonseca have reportedly agreed to terms to fight on the undercard of the December 15 Matchroom Boxing-Golden Boy Promotions card at Madison Square Garden on DAZN. The fight will be for Farmer’s IBF super featherweight title and is the second title defense for Farmer.
This is actually Fonseca’s second shot at the IBF super featherweight title. Fonseca fought Gervonta Davis in August 2017 on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather’s 10th round stoppage win over Conor McGregor, with Davis getting the victory. The title was vacant at the time of the fight as Davis was overweight the day prior and was stripped of the belt. Since losing to Davis, Fonseca has won his last three fights, all by TKO and winning the WBO Latino title in the process.
With the title vacant, it opened the door for Farmer to eventually win the vacant title. Farmer defeated Billy Dib in Australia in August to win his first world title and then defended it in October. Farmer stopped British fighter James Tennyson on the undercard of the Demetrius Andrade vs. Walter Kautondokwa fight for his first title defense.
The fight came about as IBF light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev’s title defense against Joe Smith Jr. was postponed due to Beterbiev not having enough time to properly prepare for a fight against against Smith. The card will be headlined by Canelo Alvarez moving up in weight to fight Rocky Fielding for the WBA “regular” super middleweight title.
