Oleksandr Usyk announced on Instagram that he has vacated his IBF heavyweight title, which will now be on the line in a fight between Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois on August 21 in London.
Usyk defeated Tyson Fury by split decision in May last year, successfully defending his IBF, WBA and WBO belts and also winning the WBC belt from the former champion. Usyk has a two-fight contract with Fury, with his next bout taking place on December 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
But as ESPN's Mike Coppinger explained, the IBF had to strip Usyk of the belt if he didn't face his mandatory challenger (Dubois) next, and with Usyk already booked to fight Fury, the omission here was inevitable.
Usyk had some fun with the announcement.
“Anthony and Daniel, listen, I know the IBF title is important to you,” Usyk said, adding that it was a “gift from me on September 21st.”
The 26-year-old Dubois became the interim IBF heavyweight champion on June 1 when he defeated Filip Hrgovic by eighth-round knockout. All but one of Dubois' wins have come by knockout. Dubois fought Usyk for the WBA, WBO and IBF belts last August but lost by ninth-round knockout.
Joshua, 28-3, held the WBA, IBF and WBO titles twice and successfully defended all three titles three times before losing the belts to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019 via seventh-round TKO.
Joshua won by unanimous decision six months later, but lost again to Usyk in September 2021 and again when the two fought again in August 2022. The first loss was by unanimous decision and the second by split decision.
