WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman has confirmed that the sanctioning body will not impose a mandatory obligation on undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in the immediate future – a position that will be reviewed again in December.
“The WBC is maintaining a position of trying – if at all possible – to keep an undisputed [heavyweight] champion,” Sulaiman told Boxing News in the wake of Usyk’s successful defence of his WBC title against Daniel Dubois on Saturday night. That victory also ensured the Ukrainian regained the IBF title from the Briton, as well as maintaining his grip on the WBO and WBA (super) crowns.
“The WBC have approved a series of fights and that’s why we ordered an interim fight [between Agit Kabayel and Zhilei Zhang in February] to maintain activity in the division, so things are not frozen. We will address this matter [again] at the WBC convention, which will take place in the first week of December.”
If the 38-year-old Usyk decides to fight on and wants to maintain his undisputed champion status, then he may find himself having to defend his titles next against Joseph Parker (above) – currently the WBO interim champion and the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger. However, the WBO have not yet confirmed a timeline for this contest to be arranged.
