As fans of the fight may have already read, it looks like Oleksandr Usyk will be stripped of his IBF heavyweight belt. This was just days after the great Ukrainian defeated Tyson Fury to become the first four-belt heavyweight title holder in the history of the sport. In a nutshell, Usyk will be forced to relinquish the IBF belt as he is contractually obligated to fight in a rematch with Fury (scheduled for October 12th), forcing IBF challenger Philippe・Hrgovic's challenge for the strap will be rejected.
Hrgovic, who fights Daniel Dubois in Saudi Arabia on June 1, is fully expected to fight Dubois for the vacant belt. Therefore, Usyk will only be king of the four belts for a while, which is a real shame and, according to some, an avoidable embarrassment. Tony Bellew is fed up with the fact that Usyk, the heavyweight champion of the IBF and everyone else on the planet, is likely to lose one of his belts soon.
“This is why my great sport keeps shooting itself in the foot! Why should he leave home? He's the best heavyweight in the world and he's proven it! Let him rematch Or let me fight the best! It's that simple! Politics in sports is infuriating!'' Bellew wrote on social media.
I completely agreed.
Hrgovic is a good fighter and worth a shot, but I don't think he would want to become a champion this way. Hrgovic will no doubt want to test himself against Usyk and become a true world champion. But that won't happen. We'll have to wait and see if Fury wants a rematch right away after his crushing ninth-round loss to Usyk, but the IBF has no intention of waiting.
Fury himself was stripped of his IBF heavyweight title shortly after defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 to become WBA/IBF/WBO champion. Because Fury had contractually agreed to a rematch with Klitschko, he could not meet the mandatory IBF stipulations. A compulsory defense against Vyacheslav Glazkov (ultimate loss to Charles Martin, with Martin winning the vacant IBF belt).Fury, of course, never competed in the rematch with Klitschko, instead citing mental health reasons. He retired for several months due to problems).
Now Usyk finds himself in the exact same position Fury was in all those years ago. Sadly, some things never change in this sport.
As for the fight between Hrgovic and Dubois for the vacant IBF title, the winner is likely to make his first defense against Anthony Joshua in September. But will all four heavyweight titles ever be together again?
No matter what happens with Alphabet, we all know who is the real champion and who is the true heavyweight champion. Oleksandr Usyk reigns supreme and will continue to do so until he is defeated or retires. It's really simple.
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