Oleksandr Usyk was briefly the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
In May, he defeated Tyson Fury to unify the WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight belts – the four major championships.
His tenure as undisputed lasted until September. Usyk was committed to his December 21 rematch with Tyson Fury and therefore could not make a mandatory defence of the IBF belt.
That saw interim titlist Daniel Dubois become the holder of the full IBF heavyweight world championship, which he defended in his victory over Anthony Joshua.
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Matt Macklin and Gary Logan discuss whether Fury’s heavier weight will be a help or a hinderance to him in the Usyk rematch
Once Usyk and Fury have fought their rematch in December, there could be the opportunity for the winner to compete in another undisputed heavyweight world title fight, this time against Dubois later in 2025.
The WBC would support another unification for all four of the major heavyweight belts. In that scenario, the sanctioning body would not impose an immediate mandatory obligation on the Usyk-Fury victor.
“We are not promoters so we cannot promote fights. We have been, as the WBC, extremely supportive of unification fights and undisputed champions. I would love to see Dubois fight the winner and, without a doubt, that fight is sensational,” Mauricio Sulaiman, the WBC president, said.
“We all should try to make that happen.
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Matt and Gary discuss the mental pressure Usyk puts on his opponents
“The reason for the organisation to exist is to give boxing the best fights possible. The reason for the mandatory contender rule, which the WBC instituted, was to give the best challenger the opportunity to fight the champion and not allow the champion to duck him,” he continued.
“It is not to have a mandatory just for the sake of it. At this moment, there is no greater fight than Usyk, the champion, against Fury, the former champion – simple as that.”
He is satisfied that the top end of the heavyweight division is remaining active.
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Fury divulges exactly how he will beat Usyk in their rematch and win back his heavyweight belts
“Eight of the top 10 fighters fought in Riyadh season,” Sulaiman said. “So all the heavyweights have been fighting each other and it’s been a great, great experiment.
“We had Tyson Fury against Usyk – it was postponed so it took a little bit longer – and now we have a rematch. Tyson Fury against Usyk, that’s December 21. We’re going to see at the WBC convention what is the status [for their mandatory heavyweight challenger] but we will see.
“We don’t want to interfere with an undisputed or a unified champion that comes out on December 21, and pick a mandatory just like that. The WBC is set to try and make the best fights possible. Now that it’s happening,” he added.
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Usyk and Fury were happy to play up to the crowd at the head to head for their rematch but was there more to it than meets the eye?
Supporting efforts to make an undisputed heavyweight championship fight has long been one of Sulaiman’s policies.
“We were always trying to make [Deontay] Wilder against Joshua for the undisputed at one time, then Fury against Joshua, then Fury against Usyk,” he said.
“It took a long, long time. Dillian Whyte was the last mandatory, after that came very big fights, which the WBC decided that there were no greater challenger than the ones that were taking place.
“There is no need to name a mandatory, especially when there has been great activity in the top-ranked fighters.
“We’re not going to go and step in and disrupt the greatness of the division.”
