Jacobs vs Derevyanchenko moving to October 27

Originally slated for November 10 at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, the vacant IBF middleweight title fight between Daniel Jacobs and Sergiy Derevyanchenko is being moved to October 27, likely at Madison Square Garden’s Hulu Theater, according to ESPN.

The move is “at the behest of HBO,” according to Dan Rafael.

Jacobs (34-2, 29 KO) has won two straight since a very competitive loss to Gennady Golovkin in March 2017, beating Luis Arias last November and Maciej Sulecki in April of this year. Both fights went the distance.

Derevyanchenko (12-0, 10 KO) was the IBF mandatory for Golovkin, and tried very hard to get the May 5 date with Golovkin this year after Canelo Alvarez pulled out of the fight before he could be removed from it by a commission. He didn’t get it, and the IBF didn’t sanction the Golovkin-Martirosyan fight that happened instead. Eventually, the IBF stripped Golovkin.

Rafael also reports that the co-feature will likely be a WBA “world” super featherweight title fight between Alberto Machado (20-0, 16 KO) and Yuandale Evans (20-1, 14 KO). Machado has won two straight on HBO, while Evans has been out nearly a year and is still best-known for getting sparked in under a round by Javier Fortuna back in 2012. Evans was out of boxing for three years after that loss, and has had just four fights since, dating back to 2015, but he’s beaten Billel Dib and previously undefeated Luis Rosa in his last two.