Oleksandr Usyk’s reign as undisputed world heavyweight champion is already over, but could he lose another belt? | Boxing News

Oleksandr Usyk’s reign as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world was short-lived after he handed back his IBF belt, but could there be more belts up for grabs in the future?

The Ukrainian star unified the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles with a dramatic win over Tyson Fury in May, but his reign as undisputed champion came to an end just a month later.

Usyk, who had signed a contract to rematch Fury in December, was unable to compete in the mandatory defence of his IBF belt after the organisation’s interim belt holder, Daniel Dubois, was promoted to official champion in June.

Usyk confirmed in a social media video that he was relinquishing the IBF title, and Anthony Joshua will challenge Dubois for the IBF belt on September 21 at Wembley Stadium. It will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Could Usyk’s other titles also be under threat?

Former champion Joseph Parker beat Zhang Zhilei in March to win the WBO interim heavyweight title, giving the New Zealander a mandatory shot at the world championship.

According to promoter David Higgins, Parker is “next in line” to challenge for the WBO belt.

He said Sky Sports “Every boxer wants to challenge for a world title,” he said in April.

“Joseph wants to fight [Fury vs Usyk] Of course it’s a winner, but I’m not saying that’s necessarily going to happen yet.”

The WBA has a “regular” heavyweight belt holder in Mahmoud Chaar, who has ambitions of fighting for a major title himself.

Michael Hunter also won the WBA “Gold” title with a points victory over Cassius Chaney.

Sky Sports has contacted the WBO and WBA for comment on whether Usyk is also at risk of being stripped of his belts.

The WBC has not named a mandatory challenger for its heavyweight championship.

Agit Kabayel won on the undercard to the Fury-Usyk fight but it was not the final bout and the WBC confirmed to Sky Sports that Usyk will retain the world title and it will be contested in a rematch with Fury in December.

“The WBC has sanctioned the Usyk-Fury rematch, which is scheduled to take place in December, after which the WBC currently has no formally mandatory opponent at all,” WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said. Sky Sports.

“The W.B.C. [Kabayel vs Sanchez] At the promoter’s request, he won an elimination match, defeating Frank Sanchez, who had been at the top of his game for many years.

“He has already won two bouts by knockout in Saudi Arabia, both against top-five contenders, so he certainly deserves to be in a very good position. As I just said, the only event sanctioned by the WBC is the Fury-Usyk rematch, anything beyond that will have to be dealt with by the board.”

Will we see another undisputed fight?

Sulaiman has not completely ruled out the possibility of the WBC sanctioning a future bout between Joshua and the winner of the Usyk-Fury rematch if Joshua beats Dubois and wins the IBF belt.

“Joshua has been in the spotlight for 10 years, he is a special person, especially outside the ring, and represents the very best of boxing both in and out of the ring,” Sulaiman said.

“Anthony Joshua is a very special and unique fighter who has had a close relationship with the WBC for many years. He is the WBC International champion and has defended it multiple times.”

“The WBC was the first organization to rank him in the top 10, top five. In fact, when he fought [Charles] Martin won the IBF title as the WBC No. 2 contender, but fate took him down a different path with another organization.

“But we’ve always had great respect, honor and admiration for Joshua.

“There’s Joshua and there’s Kabael. We’re not promoters so we can’t organise the fights. We’re very tolerant and flexible and don’t interfere.”

“We want to play our best game, that’s it.”