Limerick southpaw Andy Lee and Hassan N'Dam could clash in a WBO/IBF unifier in a repeat of their Olympic bout if both boxers win their next fights.

Cameroon-born N'Dam, who is managed by Cork's Gary Hyde, will face Felix Sturm for the vacant IBF middleweight belt after the IBF stripped Jermain Taylor of the title.

The IBF confirmed they had removed Taylor, who is facing charges on two gun-related incidents, as their middleweight champion.

Lee is due to defend his WBO crown against Peter Quillin in New York on April 11th. Quillin beat N'Dam, who edged out Lee on a count back at the 2004 Olympics, to secure the WBO title in 2012.

But the Chicago middleweight vacated the belt and Lee beat Russia’s Matt Korobov in Las Vegas last December to claim the vacant title.

Gary Hyde, who also manages super-bantam kingpin Guillermo Rigondeaux, believes that Lee and N’Jikam will win their upcoming fights. “I would love Hassan to fight Andy, but both fighters must come through their next fights in order for this to happen. I believe Andy will beat Peter Quillin, he said.

“And we are confident that Hassan beats any of the IBF top ten fighters which would pave the way for a amazing middleweight unification fight.”