Angel Ayala and Dave Apolinario will meet to fill a flyweight void.
The Ring has confirmed that a date is set for the previously ordered IBF 112-pound title fight. Ayala and Apolinario will collide on August 9 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Zanfer Boxing, Ayala’s promoter, bid $250,500 to to secure promotional rights. The date satisfies the terms of the bid, which called for an Aug. 12 deadline to stage the vacant title fight.
Ayala (17-0, 7 KOs), No. 7 at 112, the mandatory challenger, and Apolinario are each due a $125,250 payday from an even 50/50 purse split.
Mexico’s Ayala claimed the IBF No. 1 spot after after a questionable 12-round win over Felix Alvarado last October 14 in Merida, Mexico.
Still, the competitive showing provides the 23-year-old with a competitive edge in this ordered matchup of unbeaten contenders.
Apolinario (20-0, 14 KOs) is the No. 3-rated IBF contender. His resume is fairly thin, though three of his last four bouts have come outside of his native Philippines. He has won two straight in Japan, including a fourth-round stoppage of Tanes Ongjunta on February 22 in Tokyo.
The matchup was previously floated as a possibility for the already stacked May 6 Naoya Inoue-Luis Nery card in Tokyo. The plans were paused since the IBF title was not yet available.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.
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