Felix Alvarado has shifted his immediate goals from title unification to becoming a two-division champion.

BoxingScene.com has confirmed that Alvarado has formally abandoned his IBF junior flyweight title reign. The hope was to stick around for at least one title unification bout, before deciding it was no longer worth the struggle to make the 108-pound divisional limit.

“We tried to get a unification bout for Felix which would have been his last fight at 108 pounds,” William Ramirez, Alvarado’s manager told BoxingScene.com. “Since a title unification bout has not materialized, we have decided at this time the best thing for Felix is to relinquish his IBF 108-pound title belt and move up to [flyweight].”

The development ends a three-plus year reign for Alvarado (37-2, 32KOs), a frustrating run which has featured just two title defenses. The 33-year-old from Managua, Nicaragua enjoyed a 14-month stretch with twin brother Rene who held a secondary version of the WBA junior lightweight title, though both of whom saw their progress slowed by the pandemic.

Alvarado was set for a title unification bout with then-unbeaten WBC junior flyweight champion Kenshiro Teraji in December 2019, only to fall ill during training camp in having to withdraw. It was as close as he came to a top-tier fight following his October 2018 seventh-round knockout of Randy Petalcorin to win the belt on the road in Pasay City, Philippines.

Efforts to reschedule the fight with Teraji proved futile, as did a steady stream of activity.

Alvarado went all of 2020 without a fight before turning away former strawweight titlist Deejay Kriel via tenth-round stoppage last January in Dallas, Texas. His lone other fight last year came in a first-round knockout of Israel Vazquez in a non-title fight last August. Alvarado was due to face Guadalajara’s Erick Lopez (16-5-1, 10KOs), who was pulled during fight week.

A plan was in place to reschedule the fight earlier this year, with Alvarado hoping to defend the belt and then face one of the division’s other titlists—Teraji (who regained the WBC belt in a recent third-round knockout of Masamichi Yabuki earlier this month), WBA champ Hiroto Kyoguchi or WBO titlist Jonathan ‘Bomba’ Gonzalez. None of those scenarios panned out, with Alvarado and Golden Boy Promotions unable to get a Lopez fight sanctioned by the IBF in time to proceed with the targeted February 19 fight date in Tijuana.

The belt will now be up for grabs, as Alvarado focuses on a new set of targets.

“We would love to fight directly with any of the flyweight champions,” insists Ramirez. “Our goal is to be flyweight world champion as soon as possible.”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox