Oleksandr Usyk, the WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight world champion, will soon have mandatory challengers piling up.
The 39-year-old southpaw secured undisputed status for a second time last year when he knocked out Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium. The four-belt reign was short-lived, however, as he soon dropped the WBO belt rather than face interim champion Fabio Wardley.
Tyson Fury, who has fought and lost to Usyk twice and is currently shouting for a trilogy, believes a similar scenario will play out with WBC interim titeholder and mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel.
Speaking to IFL TV, Fury said his believes his old foe is not only in the sport for big money bouts.
“If Usyk fights Kabayel, who cares? I don’t care. No one cares. It doesn’t sell, no one is interested. It is what it is. Kabayel deserves his shot at Usyk but I don’t think Usyk is going to give it to him because it doesn’t sell, there’s no real money there.”
If that was to be the case, the Ukrainian would be required to drop the WBC belt. President Mauricio Sulaiman has made it quite clear that, following a voluntary defence, the champion must give Kabayel his shot.
Despite Fury’s views, which many fans and analysts may be in agreement with, Team Usyk has stated that the Kabayel fight is indeed an option, particularly after seeing his star power in Germany.
Kabayel stopped Damian Knyba inside three rounds at a sold out Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen last month, and is likely to have another fight on home soil in May. Having an international star is something Queensberry Promotions will lean into and continue to develop, perhaps going a ways to convincing Usyk – who last fought in Germany in 2017, beating Marco Huck to retain his WBO cruiserweight belt – the fight is big enough to make.
In the meantime, the unified champion moves closer to his next fight, with the frontrunner being kickboxer Rico Verhoeven.