IBF orders Matias vs Gollaz final eliminator

Subriel Matias and Gabriel Gollaz are on deck to fight for a shot at Richardson Hitchins’ IBF super lightweight title

With Teofimo Lopez taking his ball and going home, former IBF super lightweight champion Subriel Matias is looking to challenge for his former title instead, and the sanctioning body has ordered him to battle Gabriel Gollaz Valenzuela for a crack at it

Gollaz (30-3-1, 17 KO) has reportedly already accepted. The 30-year-old is 27-1-1 since falling to a young William Zepeda in 2016, notably edging out Robbie Davies Jr, narrowly falling to Montana Love, destroying Yves Ulysse Jr, and taking a bogus decision over Stevie Spark. He’s got the style to put on an absolute banger with Matias (21-2, 21 KO), who had to battle through adversity to stop Roberto Ramirez in last November’s comeback.

Whoever wins would be next in line to challenge Richardson Hitchins, who made a lot of noise about the IBF’s rehydration rule when he was Matias’ mandatory but went silent about it when it came time to fight Liam Paro instead. That fight would presumably have to take place by December.