The Ukrainian said he wants to have a unification fight with Daniel Dubois.
WBA, WBO, WBC and IBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk commented on the World Boxing Organization (WBO) decision to force him to defend his title against interim WBO champion New Zealander Joseph Parker .
The Ukrainian boxer said he intends to have a unification fight with IBF title holder Daniel Dubois from Britain, rather than fight Parker.
Alexander also once again thanked the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which continue to defend Ukraine from the invasion of Russian occupiers.
“Our army continues to defend our country. Our guys are fighting for freedom against the enemy, I am grateful to them for this. I think it is impossible to express our gratitude to the guys for what they do. This is first of all.
“Secondly, the WBO said that I should defend their title, but now the goal of our team is to unify the belts with Daniel Dubois,” Usyk said in an interview with Al Arabiya English.
The WBO has given Usyk and Parker 30 days to negotiate their title fight before a purse bid is called.
Let us recall that the potential fight between Usyk and Dubois will be for the title of absolute world heavyweight champion. The Briton is determined to take revenge on the Ukrainian for his defeat in August 2023. Then, in Wroclaw, Poland, Alexander knocked out Daniel in the ninth round and defended the WBO, WBA, IBO and IBF titles in the heavyweight division.
In May 2024, Usyk defeated Briton Tyson Fury and became the absolute world heavyweight champion. Then, due to a rematch with the “Gypsy King”, the Ukrainian refused to make a mandatory defense of the IBF title against Dubois and vacated the belt, thus losing the “absolute” title.