Jade Bornea has spent literally all year waiting for a title shot to come to fruition.

That day will finally arrive in early 2023 for the unbeaten junior bantamweight contender.

The IBF has ordered a mandatory title fight between Argentina’s Fernando ‘Puma’ Martinez and Philippines’ Bornea. The two sides have until December 29 to work out terms to avoid a purse bid hearing.

Martinez is represented by Sean ‘Viva’ Gibbons as head of MP Promotions, while Probellum’s Harrison Whitman is the main point of contact for Bornea. Both parties were notified by the IBF via official letter, a copy of which was obtained by krikya360.com.

Martinez (15-0, 8KOs) claimed the IBF belt in a twelve-round, unanimous decision victory over long-reigning champion Jerwin Ancajas on February 26 at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. Ancajas was among the sport’s longest reigning active titlists at the time of their first meeting, with the loss ending his near five-year title stay with nine successful defenses made amidst a 21-fight unbeaten streak.

Their October 8 rematch proved that Martinez was no one-trick wonder, delivering a more convincing win to defend the title.

While unification bouts were sought by the 31-year-old Argentine, there always existed the threat of having to next honor a mandatory title defense.

Bornea (18-0, 12KOs) advanced to the number-one position in the IBF 115-pound rankings following a third-round knockout of Mohammaed Obbadi on January 14 in Monterrey, Mexico. The hope from there was to line up the winner of Martinez-Ancajas I, only to have to wait as it was decided that a title fight rematch would first take place.

Not all was lost for Bornea, who was afforded a stay-busy fight. The 27-year-old contender from General Santos City earned a seventh-round knockout of Ivan Meneses on an August 19 show in La Paz, Mexico.

The ordered title fight trumps any plans for a pursued unification bout for Martinez, whose name landed on the wish list of lineal/WBC junior bantamweight king Juan Francisco Estrada (44-3, 28KOs). Such a fight would have paired nicely with the upcoming unification clash between WBA titlist Joshua Franco (18-1-2, 8KOs) and four-division and WBO title claimant Kazuto Ioka (29-2, 15KOs) on New Year’s Eve in Tokyo.

However, Martinez is forced to honor the called-for mandatory title fight per IBF Rule 5.D.(b), which states that “A Champion’s failure to comply with this obligation will be sufficient cause to have the [IB] Championship Committee and Board of Directors consider withdrawing recognition of the title.”

Similarly, IBF Rule 5.D.(c). contains similar language for any ordered title challenger who refuses to comply.

“The Challenger’s failure to comply with this rule will result in the Championships Committee recognizing the next leading available contender as the mandatory challenger and moving the challenger to a position below #10 in the rankings for at least 6 months,” noted Carlos Ortiz Jr., chairman of the IBF Championship Committee.

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