Willibaldo Garcia remains locked into an unavoidable mandatory title defense that will head to a purse-bid hearing.
BoxingScene has confirmed that the negotiation period for Garcia’s IBF-ordered 115lbs title defense with Andrew Moloney has elapsed without a deal in place or any real progress made during that time. The two sides will await further instructions from the sanctioning body; their bout is officially at the mercy of the highest bidder.
Monday will already mark the deadline for when the mandatory title defense was due to take place. The date is nine months from Garcia’s split-decision victory over countryman Rene Calixto in their IBF 115lbs title fight rematch in May in Zacatecas, Mexico.
Australia’s Moloney, 27-4 (16 KOs), already – and reluctantly – agreed to step aside to permit Garcia a voluntary defense versus former two-division champ Kenshiro Teraji. Their bout was scheduled for December on the “Japan vs The World” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and was sanctioned by the IBF on the condition that the winner next face Moloney, without exception.
Garcia, 23-6-2 (13 KOs), made it as far as the ceremonial weigh-in, before he fell ill and withdrew from the contest. His actions not only infuriated Teraji – who was left without a fight – but also exhausted all options for avoiding what is an overdue mandatory title defense obligation.
The development meant he could not explore a full unification clash with lineal, RING, WBC, WBA and WBO champ Jesse “Bam” Rodriguez, 23-0 (16 KOs). The bout was aggressively pushed by Matchroom Boxing, who hopes to continue working with the unbeaten Rodriguez, but to no avail.
Moloney has refused to once again stand down, and for good reason as there is no guarantee the winner would face him. Furthermore, he’d spent much of 2025 awaiting a final eliminator with Argi Cortes that ended in an unprofessional manner – enduring several date changes, and even a drastic location change just ahead of fight week that proved to be the breaking point.
The former secondary WBA 115lbs titlist at the weight finally snuck in a ring appearance late in 2025 – a knockout win in November in Suva, Fiji. It was his first bout since the previous December, though he was at least acknowledged by the IBF as its next title challenger.
