Via Barry Holbrook: Oleksandr Usyk could vacate his IBF heavyweight title if the sanctioning body insists on asking him to defend against the next obligatory Filip Hrgovic rather than advance to an undisputedly lucrative clash with the champion. WBC rival Tyson Fury.
Gareth A. Davies says IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) could eventually “drop” the IBF belt if the International Boxing Federation wants to force him to defend Hrgovic (15- 0, 12) KO).
Davies feels that fans know who are the #1 and #2 heavyweights in the tournament with Fury and Usyk, so it won’t negatively affect their fight if the IBF title isn’t relevant when they fight in February or March.
However, if the sanctioning body becomes an obstacle by insisting that Oleksandr defend against Hrgovic, the belt could be sacrificed.
There’s a lot of money for Usyk to make fighting Fury, and it’s important to his legacy that this bout continues, with or without the IBF title being part of it.
“They have their laws, and Usyk needs to defend. 90 days I think,” Gareth A. Davies told iFL TV about the IBF ordering heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to defend against his mandatory Filip Hrgovic.
“I’m not sure if I’ll just let it go. I will negotiate with them [IBF] and said, ‘Look, this fight is made for expansion’, but if there’s no move from the IBF, yeah, I think he’s going to beat it and fight Fury because it’s a bout big for him,” Davies said when asked if Usyk would drop his IBF title if the sanctioning body insisted that he face Hrgovic next.
“It’s been a legacy-defining fight for him, and if he beats Fury and he’s not the favorites, of course, it’s a huge, huge moment for him. He achieved legendary status by doing that.
“I can’t imagine that Usyk would rather fight Filip Hrgovic than Tyson Fury. It was a big money war. The Middle East cares, or they had a few weeks ago. We know it’s scheduled for late February or early March and that’s what they’re talking about.
“We have to see how this plays out over the next few weeks. Of course, in any case, the indisputable will prevail over the imperative. If they come out and say ‘matches are signed’, if both sides say ‘No, no, we signed’ then we’ll eventually pass the imperative.
“That may be so, but people used to give up their belts to fight. Like I said, the online IBF title would be great, but it doesn’t have to be online as we all know it’s the undisputed title or the online title.
“I think the IBF is missing an opportunity in promoting this. Many people think that Filip Hrgovic lost to the great Chinese boxer [Zhilei Zhang] that night [on the Anthony Joshua vs. Usyk II undercard on August 20th].
“I think Filip Hrgovic and Usyk is an interesting fight. I think Usyk also won.
“He only had it for 16 days after that,” Davies said of Fury only having the IBF title for 16 days after beating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015.
“So they’re getting over that. It’s no surprise that Kalle Sauerland and Eddie Hearn are jumping in there, thwarting that because they’re not making money from Fury vs Usyk’s fight.
“No wonder they jumped into the camp and tried to shake the cage. The bottom line is that if Usyk doesn’t want to fight Hrgovic and prefers to fight Fury, we know who the #1 and #2 are in the world, and that’s Fury and Usyk right now.
“So they keep fighting, even if they don’t have the IBF belt. If they don’t have a belt, it doesn’t really matter. Let’s keep that fight and we know who is number 1.
“In some ways, the belts are getting in the way of this, the matches have been signed and may not have until December 3 or after December 3,” Davies said.
