The International Boxing Federation has given formal sanction approval for the IBF junior featherweight eliminator between Terence "TJ" Doheny and Evgeny Gradovich.

The bout is scheduled for December 15, 2017 in Yekaterinburg, Russia. The winner will be #1 and the mandatory challenger.

Doheny is ranked in the number #3 position, while Gradovich is sitting in the number #6 spot.

Doheny (17-0, 13 KOs) takes a big step up in class, facing his most experience opponent to date. The majority of his fights have taken place in Australia, with two landing in the United States in 2016. This will be his second fight of the year.

Gradovich (23-2-1, 9 KOs) is a former IBF featherweight world champion who eventually dropped down in weight.

The Russian boxer was riding high for several years as a Top Rank fighter who was trained by Robert Garcia and managed by well-known Egis Klimas.

He won the IBF title in 2013 with a victory over Billy Dibb and then retained the belt three times - including a TKO of Dibb in their rematch.

Gradovich began to decline in 2014, after fighting to a draw with Jayson Velez. The following year he lost a technical decision, and his world title, to current champion Lee Selby.

His next two fights were lackluster performances, where he won a split decision and a majority decision - which sent him up for an April 2016 clash with current WBO featherweight champion Oscar Valdez - who demolished Gradovich in four rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as part of the Manny vs. Tim Bradley trilogy card on HBO Pay-Per-View.

Gradovich dropped down to 122-pounds, but still he struggled to get clear cut wins with another two victories secured via split decision and majority decision.

The event in Russia will be headlined by the big WBO heavyweight eliminator between former world champion Alexander Povetkin and top rated Christian Hammer of Germany.