By Igor Lazorin, tass

According to Alex Vaysfeld, the manager of Sergey Lipinets (12-0, 10 KOs), they are targeting a date in November to fight Akihiro Kondo (29-6-1, 16 KOs) for the vacant IBF junior welterweight title.

Last week, Terence Crawford vacated the IBF belt a day before a purse bid was scheduled to take place for a mandatory defense against Lipinets.

After Crawford vacated, the IBF ordered two highest ranked contenders - Lipinets and Kondo - to fight for the vacant belt.

Vaysfeld has confirmed that negotiations are ongoing and they hope the fight can be staged in New York City.

Lipinets has been the IBF's mandatory challenger for some time, after winning a final eliminator with a stoppage of Lenny Z last December. He was forced to the background when then champion Julius Indongo defeated Ricky Burns to unify the WBA/IBF titles in April.

And then he was once again passed over last month when Indongo was approved to face Crawford for the entire junior welterweight crown. The winner however, was ordered to face Lipinets next or vacate - which Crawford did.

"Crawford's team gave up the IBF title, and we are negotiating with the boxer from Japan [Kondo], who holds the next position in the rankings. We hope that the fight will be held in New York in November," Vaysfeld said.