WBO president Gustavo Olivieri announced today that previously undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has vacated the belt “[a]fter thoughtful consideration.” Fabio Wardley, formerly the interim
champion after lifting the belt from Joseph Parker last month, now holds the full title.
Usyk (24-0, 15 KO) had been on the clock to face Parker after July’s beatdown of Daniel Dubois re-added the IBF title to his collection. He requested and received a deadline extension due to injury, leading Parker to gamble his long-awaited title shot against Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KO).
Wardley, down on two cards heading into the championship rounds, wound up scoring a comeback finish in the eleventh thanks to what looked like an early stoppage. His subsequent callout of Usyk will now go unfulfilled and the obvious Plan B on paper, a rematch with Parker to clear the controversy, is presently out of the question as Parker deals with the fallout of a failed drug test.
Taking a peek at the rankings, Moses Itauma currently holds the top spot, followed by Filip Hrgovic and Zhilei Zhang. That said, Itauma also has the option pursue the winner of Kubrat Pulev vs Murat Gassiev for the secondary version of Usyk’s WBA title after his upcoming clash with Jermaine Franklin in January.
As for Usyk, he’s pretty much earned the right to call his shot at this point, but it’s not really clear who the “money fight” could be. While Agit Kabayel has the strongest claim behind Wardley, there’s no way a showdown with the German would be more lucrative.
