By Francisco Salazar

Felix Alvarado will face Randy Petalcorin for the vacant IBF junior flyweight title on Oct. 20, manager William Ramirez told Boxingscene.com late Wednesday night.

The 12 round bout will take place in Melbourne, Australia.

Alvarado and Petalcorin will fight for the title Hekkie Budler vacated two weeks. The South Africa fighter, who won the IBF and WBA titles by winning a close decision over Ryoichi Taguchi on May 20, chose not to defend the IBF title against Alvarado, who is the mandatory challenger, due to the low purse bid submitted by Sampson Lewkowicz.

The winning and only bid by Lewkowicz was $20,000. Budler would have received 75 percent, while Alvarado would have received 25 percent.

After Budler vacated the title, the IBF ordered Alvarado and the next highest available contender to fight for the title. Petalcorin is ranked number three by the IBF.

Alvarado (33-2, 29 knockouts) stopped former world title challenger Ivan Meneses after the third round of his last fight on Apr. 28 in his hometown of Managua, Nicaragua. Alvarado has won his last 15 bouts since losing to then-WBA flyweight titleholder Juan Carlos Reveco in June of 2014.

The 29-year-old Alvarado is the twin brother of junior lightweight contender Rene Alvarado.

Petalcorin (29-2-1, 22 KOs) has fought the more inferior opposition between the two. In his last fight on May 19, Petalcorin knocked out Jade Yagahon in the opening round.

The southpaw Petalcorin, who resides in General Santos City, in the Philippines, has won his last six bouts, with one of those wins coming against a fighter with a winning record.

Petalcorin's most notable fight came in his sixth pro fight, back in January of 2010, when he was stopped by current WBO bantamweight titleholder Marlon Tapales.

Peter Maniatis Events will promote the card.

Francisco A. Salazar has written for Boxingscene.com since September of 2012 and has covered boxing in Southern California and abroad since 2000. Francisco also covers boxing for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star newspaper. He can be reached by email at santio89@yahoo.com or on Twitter at FSalazarBoxing