Angel Ayala has the IBF’s blessing to press pause on a rematch with Felix Alvarado.

The Ring has learned than the IBF flyweight titlist was granted an exception from his ordered mandatory title defense. The ruling was made just as the Jan. 28 deadline approached to work out terms with Nicaragua’s Alvarado.

Mexico City’s Ayala (18-0, 8 KOs) can now continue talks with Japan’s Masamichi Yabuki (17-4, 16 KOs), the current IBF junior flyweight titlist who would move up in weight. A deal is not yet finalized between the pair of titleholder, though The Ring has confirmed that the attractive fight is being groomed to headline the March 29 Lush BOMU Vol. 4’ event in Osaka, Japan.

Ayala and Yabuki are rated No. 1 by The Ring at flyweight and junior flyweight, respectively.

The winner of the fight would then have 120 days to defend against Alvarado (42-4, 35 KOs), The Ring’s No. 6 flyweight and a former IBF 108-pound titlist.

Yabuki made a point to seek out Ayala after his collapsed talks for a targeted IBF/WBA junior flyweight title unification with Erick Rosa (8-0, 2 KOs). The two-time junior flyweight titleholder is in the voluntary phase of his second reign and seeks nothing but big fights from here on out.

“It seems that Rosa was injured at the end of the negotiations and not able to fight on the date we needed,” Yabuki told The Ring. “I wanted a unification match if I planned to stay at junior flyweight. After that, I talked about the match with [WBC titlist Panya Pradabsri] There are no rivals available at my weight.

“It is a great honor to be able to have a title match with a higher ranked opponent. Fighting a well-known and strong fighter on a big stage is a happy thing for any boxer.”

Ayala was ordered to face Alvarado, The Ring’s No. 6 flyweight and a former IBF 108-pound titlist, last Dec. 28. A 30-day negotiation period was assigned, with that deadline rapidly approaching.

Alvarado was considered unfortunate to lose a controversial unanimous decision to Ayala in their Oct. 2013 IBF flyweight title eliminator in Merida, Mexico. In fact, Alvarado was even announced as the winner before the ring announcer realized his error and revealed that Ayala prevailed by scores of 114-113 on all three cards.

Ayala then went on to win the vacant IBF title in an Aug. 9 sixth-round knockout of Dave Apolinario (20-0 at the time) in his Mexico City hometown. He’s yet to defend the title.

Alvarado re-entered the title mix after a Dec. 27 majority decision win over Argentina’s Tobias Reyes (16-0-1 at the time) in their IBF title eliminator in Managua, Nicaragua. The victory was his third in a row, but he will now have to wait at least one more fight for his chance to become a two-division titlist.

Yabuki dethroned Sive Nontshinga (13-2, 10 KOs) via a stirring ninth-round knockout last Oct. 12 in his home state of Aichi, Japan. The 32-year-old fighting hero of Nagoya, Aichi resurrected his career with the win, but is now at a point where his mentality is big fights or bust.

The win came more than three years after Yabuki’s massive upset knockout win over then-unbeaten Kenshiro Teraji in Sept. 2021 to win the WBC junior flyweight title. Teraji regained the belt six months later in a third-round knockout.

Four wins have followed for the 32-year-old Yabuki, all inside the distance.