What may happen to the heavyweight titles after Usyk’s decision to vacate.
Following Oleksandr Usyk’s decision to vacate his world heavyweight titles, the division has opened up and been presented with new possibilities.
The WBO title is, of course, spoken for. Titleholder Daniel Dubois recently won the strap from Fabio Wardley, who he is expected to duke it out with for a second time later this year.
But as for the other belts? That’s where things get interesting and pretty exciting. Top contenders and mandatory challengers will finally get their opportunity to become champion.
As far as the WBC title is concerned, Agit Kabayel is the mandatory challenger. It was expected that Usyk would likely be facing him next.
However, Kabayel will now either get elevated to WBC champion or possibly face the organisation’s #1 contender, which just so happens to be one Tyson Fury.
However, given that Fury is expected to take a tune-up this August, Kabayel could instead end up facing the next highest-ranked contender. #2 is Lawrence Okolie (who is currently out of the equation due to a recent positive drug test), #3 is Moses Itauma (who is scheduled to fight Filip Hrgovic), #4 is Hrgovic himself, #5 is Anthony Joshua (who is scheduled to fight Kristian Prenga), and #6 is Frank Sanchez (more on him soon).
This means that we may see Kabayel fight the #7 contender, which is Deontay Wilder.
As for the WBA, Murat Gassiev currently holds the “(Regular)” version of that title. Set to fight Tony Yoka, it is likely he will get elevated to full titlist. When he does, he may well have to face the current #1 contender, which is Moses Itauma.
When it comes to the IBF, the mandatory challenger is Frank Sanchez. The IBF’s #2 spot is vacant, the #3 spot is filled by Itauma, the #4 slot is taken up by Hrgovic, and the #5 position is owned by Anthony Joshua.
For that reason, Sanchez will either be upgraded to the full beltholder or be ordered to fight Bakhodir Jalolov, the IBF’s #6-rated contender.
So, things may get pretty interesting very soon.
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