Back in May Oleksandr Usyk made boxing history when he was awarded a 12 round split decision against Tyson Fury. With that victory, Oleksandr Usyk became the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since the great Lennox Lewis last technically held that distinction way back in April 2000.
Lennox Lewis won the undisputed honor when he defeated Evander Holyfield in November 1999. But sadly, Lennox never got the chance to defend his undisputed crown. The WBA stripped Lennox for not signing to face their #1 mandatory challenger, John ‘The Quiet Man’ Ruiz.
Lewis instead defended his remaining titles against Michael Grant, and at that time, Grant was widely viewed as the most deserving challenger, whereas Ruiz was not considered a worthy challenger, despite his incredibly high ranking by the WBA. As a result, Lennox Lewis never got the opportunity to defend his undisputed world heavyweight championship.
The current situation is like history repeating itself all over again. Like the WBA situation with John Ruiz back then, the IBF has insisted that their mandatory obligation must be fulfilled. Fans had waited nearly 25 years to finally have another undisputed world heavyweight champion.
But even before Usyk and Tyson Fury were originally scheduled to fight back in February, the IBF was already trying to preemptively ruin the party, insisting that the winner of Usyk-Fury must have their mandatory. The IBF made this known, despite the fact the IBF already knew Usyk and Fury had a two way rematch clause that would almost certainly be activated one way or another.
Usyk ultimately vacated the IBF belt just a little over a month after earning the undisputed crown, meaning that technically speaking, Usyk’s undisputed reign lasted just a little over 30 days. As a result, Daniel Dubois was promoted from so-called “interim IBF champion” to the real McCoy. Dubois is scheduled to defend that title against former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua.
The showdown between Dubois and Joshua is scheduled to take place on September 21st at Wembley Stadium, in a championship bout that will be broadcast on DAZN PPV.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR DAZN
This edition of Rummy’s Corner will provide a quick recap of the circumstances surrounding the demise of the undisputed heavyweight championship reigns of the last two undisputed world heavyweight champions, Lennox Lewis and Oleksandr Usyk. Please watch and enjoy the video for one man’s opinion. This is Rummy’s Corner (produced and narrated by Geoffrey Ciani).
Read the full article here
