Ukrainian gives up belt a month after defeating Tyson Fury
Alexander Krasyukpromoter of the WBO/WBA/IBO/WBC heavyweight world champion Alexandra Usika and CEO of K2 Promotions, spoke about the reasons for the Ukrainian’s refusal IBF belts.
“It was not our goal to hold the belts as long as possible. That’s the first thing. Secondly, we gave the IBF a written agreement that after the Fury fight, if Usyk became the undisputed champion, we would either have an obligation to fight the mandatory challenger, or if we had other obligations to Tyson Fury, we would vacate the title. So that was agreed upon with the IBF a long time ago. And that’s what made this big fight possible.”
“When we give our word, we usually keep it. So when Usyk became the undisputed champion, we contacted the IBF to find out about the current status of their regulations. We were informed that the IBF wanted to appoint a mandatory defense. As soon as this happened, Usyk announced on social media that he was vacating the title, instead of being stripped of the belt, instead of lawsuits and official proceedings. We do not need this. Usyk fulfilled his mission, he became the undisputed world heavyweight champion.”
On the night of May 19, Usyk inflicted the first defeat of Tyson Fury’s professional career in a fight that took place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). The victory was awarded to the Ukrainian by a split decision of the judges: 115-112, 113-114 and 114-113.
Alexander became the first absolute heavyweight champion in the four-belt era. In the heavyweight division, the last time the absolute title was held was by Lennox Lewis in 1999, but back then three titles were enough to win the title.
Usyk subsequently issued a statement in which he announced that he would give the IBF belt to the winner of the British derby between his two former opponents in the ring – Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua.. Thus, Alexander lost the status of absolute world champion in heavyweight, which he held for more than a month.
Usyk and Fury have reached an agreement for a rematch. The “Gypsy King” has officially activated the rematch option. The second fight between Alexander and Tyson will take place on December 21, 2024, in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman said he would seek the introduction of video replays in this fight.
Source: Sportarena
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