Etinosa Oliha and Aaron McKenna have been ordered by the IBF to fight for the sanctioning body's vacant middleweight title, Brunch Boxing reports.
Both parties have 30 days to agree a deal. Should that not be reached, it will go to purse bids.
Italy's Oliha, 22-0 (10 KOs), is yet to prove himself at world level. The same might be said for McKenna, 20-0 (10 KOs), but the Los Angeles-based Irishman did achieve a lopsided 12-round points victory over the fading Liam Smith in his most recent bout 11 months ago on the undercard of the first clash between Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn.
McKenna fills the void left by Shakiel Thompson, who had been nominated to tackle Oliha only to get knocked out, this past weekend, by Brad Pauls in a minor upset.
The title is vacant after it was stripped from Janibek Alimkhanuly due to a doping violation that cancelled a bout with Erislandy Lara. As well as a six-month ban being issued by Kazakhstan Professional Boxing Federation, the fighter was also handed 12-month bans by both the IBF and the WBO, who also recognized Alimkhanuly as its beltholder at 160lbs. Consequently, he was unable to fulfil mandatory requirements from the IBF.
