Plans remain on course to deliver the first undisputed heavyweight championship of the 21st century, just with a slight delay.
The team surrounding two-division and reigning WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk remains committed to fully unifying the heavyweight division. It will require a wait of at least two more months from their originally planned December 23 showdown versus lineal and WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
A tougher than expected battle with Francis Ngannou saw England’s Fury (34-0-1, 24KOs) recover from a third-round knockdown to win a narrow ten-round decision in their October 28 clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ngannou is a former UFC heavyweight champion who made his pro boxing debut but who posted a much more physical challenge to where Fury will need more time to face Usyk, despite a contractual agreement for a pre-Christmas championship clash.
“In the contract, it was December 23,” Alex Krassyuk, Usyk’s career-long promoter and head of K2 Promotions-Ukraine confirmed to Boxing News’ Andi Purewal. “But it’s a matter of common sense, common reason.
“If a fighter is not willing to go, you cannot make him. You can have a lawsuit. You can have some arguments. You can do whatever you wish. But if the fighter is not willing to fight, nothing will make him.”
Interestingly, the take is in stark contrast to Fury’s threats prior to the Ngannou fight to stick to his guns and sue Usyk if they didn’t honor the terms of the contract. The 34-year-old Brit was forced to eat crow when the taxing nature of his win over a boxing novice caused his latest delay to fully unify the division’s major titles.
Ukraine’s Usyk (21-0, 14KOs) held up his end of the bargain, though not without controversy of his own.
The former undisputed cruiserweight champion defended his unified heavyweight crown in a ninth-round knockout of England’s Daniel Dubois on August 26 in Wroclaw, Poland. Usyk was spared a fifth-round knockdown call when referee Luis Pabon ruled a low blow and went out of his way to encourage the unbeaten southpaw to take as much time as possible to recover.
Usyk went on to drop Dubois two times, the latter which produced the full ten count as he lodged his second heavyweight title defense. The fight was mandated by the WBA as a title consolidation bout—Usyk was the WBA ‘Super’ champ, while Dubois held the WBA ‘Regular’ title. The IBF agreed to pause its plans to order Usyk to face its mandatory challenger, Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic (16-0-1, 13KOs), given the plans for an undisputed championship.
The WBO is equally on board, as interim titlist Zhang Zhilei (25-1-1, 20KO) and his team were reminded during the sanctioning body’s annual convention this past October in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Fury remains in the voluntary phase of his title reign, though the WBC plans to address its mandatory situation during its annual convention later this month.
With all four sanctioning bodies on board to allow the undisputed championship to move forward within reason, Usyk and his team didn’t see any reason to disrupt those plans.
“We would rather stay flexible, relaxed,” noted Krassyuk. “We have settled already, the new date [targeted for late February].
“Next week we will announce it. Hopefully.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox