The purse bid between Richard Commey and Robert Easter Jr. will come off on March 26.
Commey (26-2, 23 KOs) and his team aren’t interested in wasting time negotiating a mandatory rematch with the IBF World lightweight champion. (21-0, 14 KOs) that was officially ordered Monday following Commey’s sixth-round knockout of Alejandro Luna in a title eliminator Saturday night on the Mikey Garcia-Sergey Lipinets card in San Antonio.
Commey’s team sent a letter to the IBF saying they are unwilling to negotiate the fight and requested an immediate purse bid, which is allowable under the organization’s rules.
So the IBF notified its registered promoters that the purse bid to determine promotional control of the fight is scheduled for March 26 at noon ET at the IBF headquarters in Springfield, New Jersey. The camps could still make a deal before submitting their bids.
In September 2016, Easter got dropped by Commey but eked out a split decision to win the vacant title.