By Allan Fox: WBO president Paco Valcarcel is saying that he wants WBO mandatory Oleksandr Usyk to be next for IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Valcarcel stated that he would like to see Joshua face WBC champion Tyson Fury, but he feels that Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) should be next in line.
The belief is if Joshua doesn’t fight Usyk FIRST before facing Fury, the WBO could strip him of his belt. Yeah, Joshua would still have his IBF and WBA belts, but he wants all of them because his goal is to become the undisputed heavyweight championship.
It’s not that the WBO is trying to get in the way of the undisputed championship fight between Joshua and Fury. They’re looking at it from the perspective of their WBO mandatory challenger Usyk, who has been waiting for his chance to fight for a world title since 2019.
If the WBO lets Joshua face Fury TWICE in 2021, and then defend against WBC mandatory Dillian Whyte, Usyk could be waiting until 2022 for his title shot. Usyk will have waited THREE years for his title shot if Joshua goes ahead with his plans in fighting Fury a couple of times in 2021.
Three years is a lifetime for a boxer, and Usyk might be a shot fighter by the time he finally gets his title shot.
Vacating WBO belt would solve Joshua’s problems
A simple solution to the problem would be for AJ to vacate the WBO belt and let Usyk scramble for it against Joseph Parker. That would be a very tough fight for the light-hitting Usyk.
Joshua could always swing back and fight for his vacated WBO strap at a later date, given that his popularity is to the extent that all the heavyweights in the top tier are eager to fight him. But Joshua wants all four titles on the line when or if he faces Fury in the summer of 2021.
“Love to see WBO unified champion, Anthony Joshua, fighting WBO former and current WBC champion Tyson Fury for the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, but WBO mandatory [Oleksandr Usyk] should be next,” said World Boxing Organization president Paco Valcarcel on Twitter.
What Paco is saying could put a massive damper on yesterday’s news of Joshua and Fury having a two-fight agreement for 2021. Joshua-Fury has agreed to the financial splits for the two fights, which are expected to consume ALL of next year.
You have to commend the WBO president Valcarcel for his sense of fairness. He wants what’s right for the WBO mandatory Usyk, even though the much bigger fight would be Joshua vs. Fury.
Joshua shouldn’t have a problem with this if he looks at it in a mature, adult manner. Sometimes we don’t get what we want right away, and we need to put off goals. It doesn’t work for Joshua if he’s stubborn and resists what the WBO president is saying what he wants.
Usyk deserves his title shot
If Joshua views this situation from Usyk’s perspective, he won’t resist what the WBO president is saying.
With the WBO wanting AJ to fight Usyk, it works out better than if Joshua were to go straight into a unification clash with Fury in the first half of 2021.
These are the fights we can see BEFORE Joshua battles Fury:
- Joshua takes on IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev NEXT in 2020, and then the winner of that fight faces Usyk in early 2021
- Fury defends against Deontay Wilder in late 2020, and the winner takes on WBC mandatory Dillian Whyte by February of next year
World Boxing Council president Mauricio Sulaiman has told Whyte (27-1, 18 KOs) that he’ll get his title shot against the WBC champion [Fury] by February 2021. Fury needs to do the right thing and give Whyte his mandated title shot. Again, this is another situation that deals with being fair to the mandatory challenger.
If those two fights take place, it means the 33-year-old former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk will need to wait until 2022 for him to get his mandated title shot for the WBO belt potentially. Given Usyk’s age and his lack of size and power for the heavyweight level, he would be in bad shape if he needed to wait until 2022 before fighting for the title.
It hurts Oleksandr to be waiting
Not only would Usyk age more, but he would be putting his WBO mandatory spot at risk by staying active and fighting at least once if not twice per year until he fights for the title in 2022 or later.
If you saw how bad Usyk looked against 38-year-old Chazz Witherspoon in his heavyweight debut last October, he might get beaten well before he’s given his title shot against the WBO belt holder, be it, Joshua or Fury.
If Usyk had the talent of a young Mike Tyson, then he could indefinitely without the worry of him getting beaten. He looked poor against Witherspoon and in his fight before that against WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew.
You can argue that if Usyk fought any halfway decent heavyweight in the top 10, he’d likely lose. He’s not cut out for the heavyweight division, and he was even weak for a cruiserweight. He barely beat Mairis Briedis in the World Boxing Super Series.
The WBO made Usyk their mandatory after he moved up from cruiserweight after holding their title in that division. They have a rule that allows champions to become the mandatory for the next division above them when they move up.
Ideally, it would have been better if Usyk proved himself first by beating a couple of top rung heavyweights before being made the WBO mandatory for Joshua. Still, he doesn’t need to under the rules of this sanctioning body. Usyk is just following along with the WBO’s rules.
If there wasn’t such a big wait involved for Usyk to get his title shot against WB champion Joshua, but the fact is he’s probably looking at 2022 before he gets his title shot.
