By Jim Dower: Sergiy Derevyanchenko (12-1, 10 KOs) will be looking to earn himself a title shot against the winner of the Saul Canelo Alvarez vs. Daniel Jacobs fight when he faces Jack Culcay (25-3, 13 KOs) in an International Boxing Federation middleweight title eliminator in two months from now on April 13 on Premier Boxing Champions on FS1 and FOX Deportes at the Minneapolis Armory, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Derevyanchenko is one of the best fighters in the middleweight division, as we saw recently in his battle against Jacobs. This will be a good chance to see whether Derevyanchenko can bounce back from his disappointing less to Daniel in a fight against another very talented fighter in 33-year-old Culcay from Germany. Derevyanchenko is the natural 160 pounder, and that could play an important factor in this fight. Derevyanchenko was often getting the better of Jacobs when the two of them would exchange, but he struggled with his jab, hand speed and movement. Derevyanchenko isn’t the fastest of middleweight, and Jacobs took advantage of that. Culcay isn’t a speed demon either, so that gives Derevyanchenko a chance of winning this fight based on his power and size.
The winner of the Derevyanchenko vs. Culcay fight won’t likely get an immediate title shot against the Canelo vs. Jacobs winner. It’ll be up to the IBF to decide when they want to order the title fight. The winner of that fight is expected to either face WBO champion Demetrius Andrade for his middleweight belt or fight Gennady Golovkin again. Jacobs already fought GGG in 2017, and lost a close 12 round unanimous decision. Canelo has fought Golovkin twice, fighting to a 12 round draw in their first encounter in 2017, and then beating him by a 12 round majority decision in the second.
It was only recently that Derevyanchenko, 33, fought for the vacant IBF 160 pound title against Jacobs last October, and lost by a 12 round split decision. The IBF is giving Derevyanchenko a second chance to fight for their title by sanctioning his fight against former interim WBA junior middleweight champion Culcay, 33, on the undercard of the Peter Quillin vs. Caleb Truax card.
Derevyanchenko’s career best win came two years ago in beating Tureano Johnson by a 12th round knockout in August 2017 Derevyanchenko followed that up with a sixth round stoppage win over journeyman Dashon Johnson last March before losing to Jacobs in October of last year.
This is going to be a tough fight for the 35-year-old Quillin (34-1, 23 KOs), as he’s facing a guy that is still relevant in the super middleweight division in Truax (34-2, 29 KOs), who just recently lost his IBF title to James DeGale by a close 12 round unanimous decision last April. It was a close fight. Truax was getting the better of DeGale each time there was separation between the two fighters, but James did a good job of holding all night to keep Caleb from throwing shots.
Despite his early success, Quillin hasn’t done much with his career since vacating his World Boxing Organization 160lb title five years ago in 2014 after the sanctioning body ordered him to defend his belt against Matt Korobov. Quillin took some time off from the sport after vacating, and ended sitting out of the ring for 12 months before returning in April 2015 in fighting to a 12 round draw against Andy Lee.