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Oleksandr Usyk announced on Instagram that he has vacated his IBF heavyweight title, a belt that can now be contested when Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois face off on Aug. 21 in London.
Usyk efficiently defended his IBF, WBA and WBO belts in a cut up determination victory over Tyson Fury final Might and received the WBC belt off the ex-champ as effectively. He has a two-fight cope with Fury, and that subsequent bout will go down on Dec. 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabiia.
Nonetheless, as ESPN’s Mike Coppinger defined, the IBF needed to strip Usyk of the belt if he didn’t face its necessary challenger (Dubois) subsequent. Since Usyk is already set for a Fury bout, the drop right here was inevitable.
Usyk had somewhat enjoyable with the announcement.
“Anthony and Daniel, pay attention: I do know, IBF title necessary to you,” Usyk said, including that this was “my current to you on Sept. 21.”
The 21-2 Dubois, 26, is the interim IBF heavyweight champion after beating Filip Hrgović by way of eighth-round TKO on June 1. All however one in every of his victories have come by way of knockout. He beforehand fought Usyk for the WBA, WBO and IBF belts final August however misplaced by way of ninth-round knockout.
The 28-3 Joshua has held the WBA, IBF and WBO titles on two completely different events. He efficiently defended all three collectively thrice earlier than dropping the belts in a surprising seventh-round TKO to Andy Ruiz Jr. in June 2019.
Joshua received them again by way of unanimous determination six months later, however he misplaced them once more to Usyk in Sept. 2021 after which fell when the 2 squared up once more in Aug. 2022. The primary loss was by way of unanimous determination, and the second was by cut up determination.
