A heavyweight veteran has taken issue with the timing of Oleksandr Usyk’s decision to relinquish his titles, given that he could have fought for a vacant strap earlier this year.
While maintaining his status as the lineal heavyweight champion, Usyk chose to vacate his WBC, IBF and WBA belts towards the end of last month.
In doing so, the Ukrainian enabled Agit Kabayel and Murat Gassiev to respectively be upgraded to full WBC and WBA champions, while his old IBF title remains up for grabs.
But while allowing others to progress in the sport, Usyk has afforded himself just one more fight before calling time on a phenomenal career.
This news follows his 11th-round stoppage over Rico Verhoeven in May, when the two-division undisputed champion encountered a tougher-than-expected night’s work.
And with Usyk subsequently announcing that he has one fight left, many felt this decision was inspired by his difficulty in dispatching a former kickboxing champion.
Either way, the 39-year-old’s deliberation meant that Derek Chisora was unable to fight for a vacant IBF title when he faced Deontay Wilder in April.
According to Usyk, Chisora gave him the toughest fight of his career when they went the distance in 2020. ‘Del Boy’ ultimately lost via a hard-fought unanimous decision, with the judges’ scorecards reflecting a closely contested bout.
Speaking with Seconds Out, the 42-year-old explained that he had even attempted to pressure his former opponent into making a decision so he could have one last shot at a world title.
“Let’s not talk about that guy. Usyk p*ssed me off because I phoned his manager, I phoned him – even FaceTimed him – and he showed me his beautiful baby girl. He was at home with his family.
“I was like, ‘Bro, I’m fighting Deontay Wilder. Drop the IBF [title]. Do this for me as a friend’. [He said] ‘I’ll let you know’.
“F**king mug. He’s a c**t, that guy. We pressured him; we phoned him every day, and he didn’t play ball. Then, suddenly, he boxed a kickboxer [Verhoeven] and realised he’s not the same [fighter].
“That was selfish of him [to keep the belts].”
With Chisora losing a split decision to Wilder, he would have been unable to win the IBF title which, instead, is set to be contested by mandatory challenger Frank Sanchez in due course.
