Tevin Farmer and Kenichi Ogawa will fight for a vacant junior lightweight world title after their promoters made a deal Thursday and avoided a purse bid scheduled for Oct. 24.
The IBF sent a letter to its registered promoters, formally canceling the purse bid because "both sides have reached an agreement to do the fight."
Farmer versus Ogawa will air on HBO either on Dec. 9 or Dec. 16 at a location to be determined. One possible venue is Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
The fight is due to be on the undercard of another junior lightweight world title fight in the process of being finalized, between titlist Miguel Berchelt (32-1, 28 KOs) and Mexican countryman and former titlist Orlando Salido (44-13-4, 31 KOs).
Farmer (25-4-1, 5 KOs), 27, of Philadelphia, and Ogawa (22-1, 17 KOs), 29, of Japan, are due to meet for the 130-pound belt that became vacant when Gervonta Davis was overweight the day before an Aug. 26 defense against Francisco Fonseca on the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor undercard. Davis was stripped of the title.
Lou DiBella, who promotes Farmer, made the deal with leading Japanese promoter Akihiko Honda of Teiken Promotions.
"Ogawa is supposed to be a good puncher and a tough guy," DiBella told ESPN. "He's not one of these guys who's a mover or a runner. He's a fighter, and he has power. That's what I know about him. This is not a walkover fight, but I'm confident in Tevin. This is what he's been waiting for his whole life, an opportunity to fight for a world title, but this is not a walkover opponent."
Farmer has won 18 fights in a row since suffering an eight-round knockout in 2012 against Jose Pedraza, who went on to win a junior lightweight world title.
The fight will be Ogawa's first outside of Japan in his seven-year pro career.