Canoy, Shigeoka on collision course?

The International Boxing Federation (IBF) has ordered a title elimination match featuring Filipino Joey Canoy possibly against ex-champion Ginjiro Shigeoka of Japan with the winner assuming the role of mandatory challenger.

This first surfaced Friday when Canoy was named to battle Chinese knockout specialist Zhu Dianxing to determine who secures a shot at the 105-lb crown currently being held by another Filipino, volume-puncher Pedro Taduran.

But the Chinese relayed to the IBF that he was not interested in figuring in a title eliminator and Shigeoka, being next in line in the ratings and not committed to fight anytime soon, was automatically singled out.

JC Mananquil, who promotes Canoy, told DAILY TRIBUNE that he is interested in staging the Canoy-Shigeoka showdown but is awaiting word from Japan if that is doable.

Taduran was supposed to defend against Zhu last November in Jeju Island, Korea but the fight fell off, leaving the hard-hitting southpaw looking for somebody to defend the crown against.

There are talks that Taduran could end up facing another one of Mananquil’s fighters — Ar-Ar Andales in Manila — but everything is still up in the air as the parties involved are still reeling from the long Christmas break.

Should the proposed Canoy-Shigeoka duel happen, the survivor will get an outright crack at the Taduran-Andales victor as per IBF rules.

Taduran is handled by the Elorde siblings Marty and Cucuy with American dealmaker Sean Gibbons also wielding promotional authority over the Bicol native.

Gibbons is likewise aligned with Mananquil’s Sanman Boxing, making it appear easy to arrange the title fight with Manny Pacquiao’s Blow-By-Blow television program taking the lead.