Kenichi Ogawa, Azinga Fuzile head to purse bid to decide Tevin Farmer mandatory

While Tevin Farmer works on his ordered title defense against Guillaume Frenois and jaws with his fellow champions, the IBF are working to get him his next mandatory, ordering former champion Kenichi Ogawa and unbeaten 22-year-old South African Azinga Fuzile to a May 27th purse bid.

The two are ranked #4 and #5 by the IBF, respectively, with Frenois at #3 and the top two spots empty for now.

Ogawa (23-1, 17 KO) took a highly controversial decision over Farmer in a bid for the vacant title last year, but lost the belt and received a sixth-month suspension after testing positive for synthetic testosterone. He blamed the result on medication for a skin condition and returned to action in February with a decision win at Korakuen Hall.

Fuzile (14-0, 8 KO) has actually faced some decent competition in his 4.5-year career, including former title challengers Tshifhiwa Munyai, Malcolm Klassen, and Romulo Koasicha. He has yet to fight outside of his home country.