The first undisputed heavyweight championship reign of the 21st century barely lasted one full month.
Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 knockouts) has officially vacated his IBF title in a decision he made public on Tuesday. The undefeated, two-division RING and undisputed champion relinquished the strap just one month—nearly to the day—after he filed an exception with the IBF to avoid being stripped of the title.
Usyk asked for an extension in hopes of defending all the heavyweight hardware in a contractually bound rematch with Tyson Fury. The two are due to meet in a Dec. 21 rematch. Usyk defeated Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) via 12-round decision to fully unify the decision on
With the declaration, Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs) will be elevated to full titlist from his interim title status.
The timing was far from coincidental.
It came on the eve of a major press conference planned Wednesday in London to announce the September 21 Riyadh Season show at Wembley Stadium. Matchroom Boxing and Queensberry Promotions did not reveal any details on the event. However, the worst-kept secret was its headliner. Dubois will face former two-time unified heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs), No. 2 at heavyweight.
Wednesday’s announcement will now carry with increased stakes for the main event.
“Anthony and Daniel, listen: I know, IBF title [is] important to you,” Usyk said in a video posted on his social media channel. “Call it my present to you on September 21.”
Interestingly, the matchup is between the two heavyweights Usyk defeated just prior to fully unifying the division.
He knocked out Dubois in the ninth round of an Aug. 26 unified heavyweight title defense in Wroclaw, Poland. The win came after Usyk twice outpointed Joshua. He claimed the WBA, IBF and WBO titles in a Sept. 2021 points win over the hulking Brit, then added The Ring championship with a repeat feat in Aug. 2022.
Usyk then went on to defeat Fury to become a two-division, undisputed champion. He previously held all the hardware at cruiserweight before he abdicated the throne in 2019.
Dubois claimed the interim version of the IBF belt with an eighth-round stoppage of Filip Hrgovic on June 1 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Croatia’s Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KOs) was the mandatory challenger at the time and prepared to have Usyk stripped of the title. Dubois torched those plans with the upset win, as he continues to breathe new life into his up-and-down career.
The feat came less than six months after Dubois ‘daddied’ Jarrell Miller (26-1-1, 22 KOs) via tenth-round stoppage last Dec. 23 at Kingdom Arena. That same event saw Joshua earn fifth-round stoppage of Otto Wallin.
Joshua then flattened former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in the second round on March 8 in the very same venue. The win was his fourth straight, all in a span of 49 weeks.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) remains the division’s RING champion and still holds the WBA, WBC and WBO titles. The unbeaten Ukraine entered his May 18 full unification bout versus Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) with the knowledge that his IBF reign could be in jeopardy, even with a win.