IBF to allow Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk for undisputed championship

By Boxing News - 01/09/2023 - Comments

By Barry Holbrook: The IBF has reversed their order for their heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to defend against mandatory Felip Hrgovic next, thus allowing the undisputed match against WBC champ Tyson Fury to go ahead.

Dan Rafael is reporting the news of IBF president Daryl Peoples canceling the order for Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) to defend against #1 Hrgovic.

Peoples states that the WBA is next in the rotation system for mandatory defenses, meaning that Daniel Dubois will be the next mandatory due to IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk to defend against.

However, with Dubois being promoted by the same person as Tyson Fury in Frank Warren, he’s already working on Fury-Usyk fight to happen next in March, possibly in the Middle East or the UK.

After that, the winner will decide whether to defend against the WBA mandatory Dubois or vacate the belt. Warren said today that Fury is interested in facing Joe Joyce in his next fight if he successfully defeats Usyk in March.

Hrgovic’s promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Boxing, obviously won’t be happy at learning of the IBF’s decision to rescind their previous order for Usyk to defend against his fighter.

Hearn was counting on the Usyk vs. Hrgovic fight, and he’d talked about Fury not being able to face Oleksandr for the undisputed because his fighter was due his title shot.

Warren revealed this week that a draft contract has been sent to Usyk for the Fury fight, and they need to move quickly to get the fight signed ahead of their March showdown. Usyk’s management can’t afford to be slow in reviewing the draft contract if the Fury fight is to proceed in March.

For the boxing fans that are anxiously waiting to see Fury fight Usyk for the undisputed, this is excellent news because the match no longer has a roadblock obstructing it from going ahead for March.

The disappointing thing about it is that the Fury-Usyk winner will likely only be undisputed for one fight before they quickly vacate the WBA belt to swerve the Dubois match, which is risky and not one that will be worth making.

If Dubois were more popular worldwide, it would be worth it for the Fury vs. Usyk winner to defend against him, but unfortunately, he’s mostly known to British boxing fans, and he’s not considered to be a real talent.