Carl Froch loses WBA super-middleweight belt after failing to defend title

The British boxer Carl Froch has been stripped of his WBA super-middleweight belt because of a failure to defend his title since last May.

The WBA says Fedor Chudinov and Felix Sturm will fight for the vacant title on 9 May in Germany. Froch has not fought since beating George Groves in an all-British bout at Wembley Stadium on 31 May. Since then, an attempted fight with Julio César Chávez Jr in Las Vegas fell through.

The WBA said in a statement that Froch will be the mandatory challenger for the super champion Andre Ward if the American boxer beats Paul Smith in a non-title fight on 20 June. Ward beat Froch in 2012.