- Oleksandr Uysk applies for waivers to retain his IBF heavyweight title
- The Ukrainian wants to remain undisputed champion ahead of Fury’s rematch
- Usyk is late in defending the title against mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic
Oleksandr Usyk has filed an official request for relief from his IBF title in order to remain the undisputed champion of the heavyweight division.
The Ukrainian defeated Tyson Fury in a spilled decision victory last weekend, becoming the first fighter since Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999 to unify the belts.
However, he is in danger of losing his IBF championship because he is late for the mandatory title defense.
According to reports, IBF President Daryl Peoples has confirmed that Usyk has officially requested an exception to retain his IBF world heavyweight title for a Tyson Fury rematch, rather than be stripped for not facing his mandatory IBF challenger .
That challenger is Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic, who has been the top heavyweight contender since an August 2022 victory over Zhilei Zhang.
Oleksandr Uysk requested an exemption to retain his IBF heavyweight title and remain undisputed champion
Usyk became the first man in 25 years to unify the division after defeating Tyson Fury
Filip Hrgovic is the mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk’s IBF championship title
Hrgovic will be in action next weekend when he takes on England’s Daniel Dubois as part of the Matchroom vs. Queensberry 5-v-5 at the same venue in Saudi Arabia where Usyk tasted victory last week.
Usyk went into his huge showdown with Fury knowing his undisputed reign could potentially last just two weeks, and now the decision rests with the IBF on the future of the title.
A decision will likely be made ahead of the Hrgovic vs. Dubois fight, with some speculation that the title could even be made available as part of the showdown.
The threat of a brief unchallenged reign and splintering of ties was always a possibility when the original date of Usyk’s clash with Fury was set.
Uysk’s wants to remain undisputed champion ahead of an expected rematch with Tyson Fury
However, things became even more complicated after the pair’s fight was moved up due to the injury to Fury’s eye, causing the fight to be moved to a later date.
Usyk won the WBA, IBF and WBO titles in a September 2021 points victory over Anthony Joshua and retained the betting in a rematch against the Briton a year later – the same night Hrgovic defeated Zhang to become the mandatory challenger.
Now the 37-year-old wants to expand the series to include all four titles so he can defend them against the Gypsy King again in their expected rematch later this year.