The world’s boxing organizations gave Oleksandr Usyk in a month to reach a deal to fight Joseph Parker.
Heavyweight champion Olexandre Usaik has been ordered to begin negotiations against Joseph Parker to defend the World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight title.
The order could end British fighter Daniel Dubois’ desire to have a rematch with the Ukrainians.
WBO announced Thursday that USYK, which also hosts the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the World Boxing Association (WBA) belt, has 30 days of “conditions” for 30 days for mandatory title defense against New Zealand’s Parker or government agencies.
Parker defended the WBO interim title in Riyadh last month, a second-round replacement after Dubois retreated due to illness in Martin Bakole’s second-round suspension.
Rather than rescheduling his match against Parker, International Boxing Federation (IBF) champion DuBois wanted a return clash with USYK, who defeated Briton in a ninth round knockout in August 2023.
While 27-year-old DuBois was understood to be a talk facing USYK in the fight to win all four major world heavyweight titles, the WBO announcement complicates the sport’s photo, in which the lack of a single global governing body means there will be multiple world champions in the same weight class.
USYK defeated British Tyson Fury in May 2024, becoming the uncontroversial world heavyweight champion for the first time in nearly 25 years. However, he opened the IBF belt before the rematch, and DuBois rose to full champion.
The 38-year-old former uncontroversial world cruiserweight champion Ushik extended his perfect professional record to 23 wins with a 14 stop after beating Fury in a rematch in December.
While Usyk spoke shortly after being declared the winner by a unanimous decision, Dubois entered the ring and called for a match by suspending an interview with the 2012 gold medalist.
However, Parker, who won the WBO title from 2016 to 2018 and has won six consecutive wins since losing to Joe Joyce in 2022, appears to have overtaken DuBois as the next candidate to face USYK.
In February, Usyk said he plans to go on two more fights before retiring.
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