By: Sean Crose
With a fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship of world against Tyson Fury out of the equation, the World Boxing Association has ordered WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk to face Daniel Dubois next. “The World Boxing Association (WBA) Championships Committee ordered negotiations for the world title fight between Super Heavyweight Champion Oleksaandr Usyk and Champion Daniel Dubois,” the organization stated in a press release. “The official communication was sent to the parties on Monday. The teams of both fighters will have 30 days to negotiate, which will start this April 4 and will end next May 2 at the end of the day. “
The WBA went on to add that it had allowed Usyk and his team to negotiate with Fury and his team, but since that fight obviously isn’t happening, they’ve ordered Usyk to face his mandatory instead. “The fight between Usyk and Dubois had been ordered since last December 12, but in the process a period of time was granted for Usyk to negotiate the unification fight with Tyson Fury,” the press release stated. “However, that fight could not be agreed due to differences between the teams and now the WBA orders the fight that corresponded in line with its world title reduction plan.”
The press release added that, should a deal not be made by May 2nd, the fight might well go to a purse bid. If an agreement for Usyk-Dubois is not reached by May 2 or either side refuses to negotiate,” statement claimed, “the WBA could send the fight to auction with a split of 75% for Usyk and 25% for Dubois.” Although this is clearly not the fight fans had hopped to see Usyk engage in next, there’s no denying that Dubois is rightfully in line for the WBA world heavyweight belt.
