Oleksandr Usyk Vacates IBF Title
Oleksandr Usyk has vacated his IBF heavyweight title as he’s no longer the undisputed champion.
Usyk became the undisputed champion with a win over Tyson Fury, but after that, it was revealed he likely would have to vacate a title so he could rematch Fury instead of having a mandatory.
Now, on Tuesday, Usyk announced on social media that he indeed has vacated the IBF title which Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois will now be fighting for.
“Anthony and Daniel, listen – I know the IBF title is important to you. It is my present to you for September 21,” Usyk posted.
Although Usyk vs. Fury 2 won’t be for the undisputed heavyweight titles, like the first one, it still is a big fight. Usyk did try and protest the decision by the IBF to hold all the titles for the rematch with Fury, but the IBF decided he had to fight Dubois, so he decided to vacate the title.
Oleksandr Usyk is set to rematch Tyson Fury on December 21 in what will be a highly-anticipated bout. In the first fight, Usyk struggled early on, but he took over and nearly finished Tyson Fury, which boxing promoter Eddie Hearn says the ref made the right call by not stopping it.
“I think there are a lot of British referees on British soil that would’ve stopped that fight,” Hearn said on The MMA Hour. “He [Fury] literally covered every millimeter of that ring, staggering. I don’t mind Mark Nelson’s play right there. I do feel like he gave a lot of time to Tyson Fury. Not just in a count, but particularly afterward… I think [Nelson] was right in what he did.”
Oleksandr Usyk is 22-0 as a pro and is the former unified heavyweight and cruiserweight champion. Before the win over Fury, he beat Dubois by TKO after back-to-back wins over Anthony Joshua.
