A middleweight title fight for the vacant IBF championship has been ordered between Esquiva Falcao (30-0, 20 KOs) from Brazil and Vincenzo Gualtieiri (20-0-1, 7 KOs) from Germany. The two sides have 30 days to negotiate terms, after which a purse bid hearing will be called if an agreement is not reached.
Falcao is promoted by Top Rank, led by Bob Arum, while Gualtieri is represented by AGON Sports in Berlin. The winner of the fight, if it is scheduled, will claim the vacant IBF middleweight title, which was recently given up by Gennadiy Golovkin in February of 2023.
Falcao earned his mandatory challenger status with a technical decision win over Patrice Volny in a November 2021 title eliminator. Despite only fighting once since then, Falcao remains undefeated and is a 2012 Olympic Silver medalist and nine-year professional.
His opponent, Gualtieri, is ranked third in the IBF middleweight division. Despite being a professional for over seven years, the 30-year-old fighter from Wuppertal, Germany has never competed outside of his home country. A bout with Falcao would be a significant step up in competition for Gualtieri, although he has gained valuable experience by going the distance in his last five fights, all of which were twelve-round contests. In his most recent fight, held on September 10 of 2022 in his hometown of Wuppertal, Gualtieri earned a points victory over Vincenzo Bevilacqua.
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