Promoter Eddie Hearn wants undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to admit that he won’t be fighting interim IBF champ Daniel Dubois so that the title can be stripped from him.
With the IBF belt freed up, Hearn’s fighter, Anthony Joshua, will face interim champion Dubois for the vacant title on September 21st at Wembley Stadium. Usyk will then take his three titles, WBA, WBC & WBO, and face Tyson Fury in a rematch on December 21st.
The winners of the Joshua-Dubois and Fury-Usyk 2 fights will then meet in April or May for the undisputed championship, which Hearn hopes will be an all-British fight between Joshua and Fury.
Obviously, the nightmare scenario would see Dubois knock out Joshua on September 21st and Usyk send Fury into retirement with a KO loss on December 21st. That would leave Hearn without a mega-fight for Joshua and needing to rebuild him again like he just finished doing.
If Fury doesn’t retire after his second loss against Usyk, he and Joshua can still fight, going into the match with both being beaten. It wouldn’t be the ideal way to make the fight, but Hearn could call it a losers consolation bracket. If Deontay Wilder doesn’t retire, include him as part of the deal.
Hearn’s Plan
- Joshua vs. Dubois for vacant IBF title on September 21st
- Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2 rematch for WBA, WBC & WBO belts on December 21st
- Winners of those two fights battle for the undisputed championship in April or May 2025
The Potential Timeline for the Heavyweight Division
“Usyk needs to be honest enough, and we need him to be honest to say, ‘I’m not going to fight Daniel Dubois.’ Daniel Dubois is the interim [IBF] world champion and the mandatory. Usyk has to fight him,” said promoter Eddie Hearn to talkSport Boxing.
“He’s [Usyk] got the rematch with Fury [on December 21st]. I think the way that it’ll line up potentially is AJ and Dubois fight for the IBF title [on September 21st]. Fury and Usyk fight for everything else [WBA, WBC & WBO], and then next spring in April or May time, perhaps the winners can fight the winners again for undisputed.
“I don’t think so because everything we’re hearing from His Excellency is AJ potentially fighting the winner of Fury and Usyk if he [Joshua] wins in September. Let’s be honest. If Fury wins and becomes undisputed, we have to make the AJ fight, we just have to.
“AJ wants his shot at undisputed. So either way, we’ve got to try and get there. He’d love to have an opportunity to get another crack at Usyk. It’s two nil. It’s a difficult task, but he feels he’s in a much better place now, and, of course, he’d love a shot at Tyson Fury as well,” said Hearn.
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