The IBF have called for a final eliminator between Martin Bakole and Agit Kabayel to determine who will be the next mandatory challenger for heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois.
The 27-year-old Briton was upgraded to full IBF world champion during the summer after Oleksandr Usyk opted to vacate the title.
Dubois then successfully defended the belt in a thrilling encounter with 34-year-old Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium last month.
The pair are expected to fight again but should Bakole and Kabayel meet before then, the IBF may need to grant Dubois an exception to side step his mandatory challenger.
Kabayel and Bakole still need to negotiate when their bout will be and a mandatory challenger will not officially be called until after they fight.
Bakole, 31, is originally from Cameroon but trains in Scotland. The only loss on his record is to American Michael Hunter in 2018 and he has since won 10 fights in a row.
In that time he has secured massive upset victories over Olympic silver medallist Tony Yoka and American prospect Jared Anderson.
Kabayel, 32, is undefeated in 25 fights with 17 knockouts.
The German is on a run of four stoppages in a row.
After his win over Joshua, Dubois intends to take the rest of 2024 off after four fights since August 2023.
