Ghana’s Emmanuel Tagoe has been stripped of his IBO lightweight belt after failure to comply with the body’s rules.

Tagoe was mandated by IBO to defend his belt against mandatory challenger Fedor Papazov not later than June 17th, but the James Town native failed to comply with the body’s order.

However, the IBO Championships Committee has no other option than to take the title away from Tagoe.

A letter from IBO to the Ghana Boxing Authority, which was signed by the body’s President Ed Levine read:

“I regret to inform you that on May 21st the IBO Championships Committee ordered that the IBO World Lightweight title held by Emmanmuel Tagoe be vacated due to his failure to comply with the requirements of the IBO Championship Rules and Regulations.”

Tagoe won the IBO belt in December 2016 after claiming a one-sided unanimous decision win over Mzonke Fana.

He made his first defense of his belt January this year – he stopped Argentina’s Fernando Saucedo.