It became known why Usyk refused the title of absolute champion

WBO welterweight titleholder Teofimo Lopez (20-1, 13 KOs) explained Oleksandr Usyk's (22-0, 14 KOs) decision to vacate the IBF belt. On June 26, the undefeated Ukrainian stopped being an absolute champion.

According to the famous American, the lack of titled IBF rivals was to blame. "Usyk didn't want to hold the title so as not to have to deal with mandatory contenders that no one has ever heard of in this weight class. It's just business. You can give up titles. I had to do the same with the fight against Cambosos when the fight was postponed several times. I would have undermined the plans of others and Haynie would not have become the absolute world champion. Well, he would have, but not so fast," Fight Hub TV quoted Lopez as saying.

Earlier, a well-known boxing insider Dan Raphael said that Usyk was in a hopeless situation and therefore had to give up the title of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), as this organization agreed to sanction our compatriot's fight with Tyson Fury.

As OBOZ.UA previously reported, on May 18 in Riyadh, Usyk defeated Fury and won the WBA, WBO, IBF, and WBC heavyweight belts.

On May 19, it was reported that Usyk would only remain the absolute champion until June 1, 2024, as his mandatory IBF title defense against Filip Hrgovic was overdue. Usyk's team officially filed a request to keep the title for a rematch with Fury.

On June 2, undefeated IBF interim champion Filip Hrgovic suffered a sensational defeat against British heavyweight Daniel Dubois (21-2, 20 KOs), which confused the organizers of the fight for the full IBF belt.

On September 21, a fight between the British Daniel DuBois and Anthony Joshua is to take place at Wembley Stadium.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!