Kell Brook to face Frankie Gavin in optional title defense

So I guess it was a good thing Frankie Gavin turned down the IBF's eliminator offer, because now he gets to go right for the title. Though the eliminator offer was on the table for Gavin by the IBF, promoter Eddie Hearn decided to cut out the middleman in Tim Bradley so that he could put together an in-house fight between two of his fighters for the IBF title. In short, Hearn declined the eliminator bout with Tim Bradley on Gavin's behalf knowing that he could exercise Kell Brook's optional title defense to stage a fight with Frankie Gavin straight-away.

IBF chairman, Lindsey Tucker explains the optional situation for Brook:

"Kell Brook is in an optional period now following his mandatory against Jo Jo Dan and can fight anyone in the IBF's top 15 rankings until October 28, 2015," Tucker said.

Being that Gavin is currently rated number five by the IBF, that means he's within the threshold to bypass any eliminator bouts if the champ (or his promoter) chooses him as their optional defense, which Hearn did. The fight could happen as soon as May 30th. Meanwhile...Tim Bradley is still waiting in the wings.