Vayseld was told that Indongo is going to vacate - which in turn would set a fight between Lipinets and Maurice Hooker for the vacant belt - and that fight would likely land on the June 17th undercard to the light heavyweight rematch between Andre Ward and Sergey Kovalev. Both Ward and Hooker are promoted by Roc Nation Sports.
Hooker (22-0-3, 16 KOs) went to a controversial split draw with former champion Darleys Perez last November in Las Vegas. That fight took place on the undercard to the first Ward-Kovalev bout. He returned to the ring in February, by winning a stay-busy decision over Cristibol Cruz in Mexico.
"According to my information, Indongo is going to drop this belt. And then Lipinets will fight with the next candidate, which is most likely going be Maurice Hooker. If that's going to be the case, then the fight will take place on the Kovalev -Ward event," Vaysfeld said.
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Indongo To Vacate? Lipinets-Hooker For IBF Belt on Ward-Kovalev? - Boxing News