Last week, the IBF ordered a mandatory defense in heavyweight – the unified division champion Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) is obliged to fight Croatian Filip Hrgovic (15-0, 12 KOs).
The decision of the organization may well prevent the fight for the title of absolute world champion between Usyk and the owner of the WBC title missing from the complete collection of the British Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs). After all, the Ukrainian has obligations to other applicants – the British Daniel Dubois (WBA) and Joe Joyce (WBO).
Usyk’s promoter believes that “not everything is so bad” and that the fight with Fury is not in danger at the moment. But in Britain, his optimism is not shared. There is an opinion that the Ukrainian can “throw out” the IBF belt.
What about the situation
He speaks Hrgovic’s main promoter Kalle Sauerland (Wassermann Boxing): “Retreats? No. And this is an unequivocal and unquestionable answer. This fight was booked by the IBF. And this is a very consistent organization. And very strict. They are all clear. And this can be seen in historical examples. Just remember how Fury took all the belts from Wladimir Klitschko, and then lost the IBF title, because he refused to comply with their orders.
Sauerland recalls the situation in 2015. Fury took the WBA Super, IBF and WBO belts from Klitschko. The loser activated the revenge clause prescribed in the contract, but the IBF demanded that the new champion fight his mandatory challenger, Ukrainian Vyacheslav Glazkov.
After Fury’s refusal, the organization stripped him of the title – the vacant belt was played in the confrontation between Glazkov and (the next in the IBF ranking) Charles Martin from the USA. The American won.
“It’s simple,” Sauerland says. – In the IBF, everything is very serious with mandatory defenses. Therefore, we will take this seriously. Philip had been waiting for this chance for a long time. And we are extremely happy that he finally came.”
Earlier, we warned that the IBF decision really threatens the Usyk vs Fury fight and told why everything is much more serious than the Ukrainian’s promoter says.