Talks did not go far between a pair of first-time title challengers.

krikya360.com has confirmed that the vacant IBF middleweight title fight between Brazil’s Esquiva Falcao and Australia’s Michael Zerafa will head to a purse bid hearing. Top Rank, Falcao’s promoter, requested an immediate hearing ahead of the assigned negotiation deadline.

The session will take place March 14 at IBF headquarters in Springfield, New Jersey. The minimum acceptable bid for an IBF middleweight title fight is $100,000, to be split 50/50 between Falcao and Zerafa as the number-one and number-two ranked contenders, respectively.

The belt became available when two-time unified middleweight titlist Gennadiy Golovkin (42-2-1, 37KOs) opted to vacate in lieu of a mandatory title defense versus Falcao. Golovkin went to the IBF to have the mandatory enforced as means to delay a WBA title consolidation clash versus Erislandy Lara.

As Boxing Scene previously reported, Kazakhstan’s Golovkin relinquished his title when efforts to shop the fight produced minimal interest. An ordered title consolidation clash with Lara is back in play, though Boxing Scene has learned that the WBA plans to soon order a purse bid hearing.

Falcao-Zerafa was ordered by the IBF on February 9, one day after Golovkin gave up the belt. 

"An agreement could not be reached and on March 1, 2023, Mr. Carl Moretti representing
Esquiva Falcao requested an immediate purse bid," IBF Championship Committee chairman Carlos Ortiz noted to all sanctioning body-registered promoters via official letter, a copy of which was obtained by Boxing Scene. "The IBF is ordering a Purse Bid in these offices on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, at 12:00 PM EST. Bids must be submitted at 11:45 AM EST to be promptly opened at 12:00 PM."

Falcao (30-0, 20KOs) took home a silver medal as a middleweight for Brazil during the 2012 London Olympics. The final round of the middleweight bracket ended with a narrow and disputed decision defeat to Japan’s Ryota Murata, who later claimed the WBA middleweight title he since conceded to Golovkin last April 9 in Saitama.

The road to contention has been slow for Falcao. He finally arrived on the title stage after a technical decision win over Patrice Volny in their November 2021 IBF middleweight title eliminator between unbeaten middleweights.

Just one fight has followed, a ten-round decision over Cristian Fabian Rios last May 29 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Zerafa (31-4, 19KOs) has considerably more big fight experience, though not yet with a major title at stake.

The bulk of Zerafa’s career has been spent in his native Australia. The 30-year-old from Melbourne has fought just three times on the road, all resulting in defeat. He was stopped in the fifth round of a September 2015 fifth-round clash with then-unbeaten Peter Quillin in Mashantucket, Connecticut—his lone defeat inside the distance. Zerafa was outpointed by former IBF welterweight titlist Kell Brook in a December 2018 junior middleweight fight in Brook’s hometown of Sheffield, England.

Zerafa has since spent his past seven fight at middleweight or heavier. The most significant was a ninth-round stoppage of former WBO welterweight titlist Jeff Horn in their celebrated August 2019 meeting in Bendigo, Australia. Zerafa dropped two knockdowns in a ten-round decision defeat to Horn in their December 2019 rematch in South Brisbane.

Four wins have followed, including back-to-back wins over unbeaten boxers Issac Hardman and Danilo Creati in his most recent outings. The biggest win among that stretch was a first-round knockout of badly faded Aussie legend and former titlist Anthony Mundine in March 2021.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for krikya360.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox