"To block it". Hearn explains why the Usyk-Fury fight was really announced

Famous British promoter Eddie Hearn said that WBC champion Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) and WBA, WBO, IBF titles holder Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) hurried up with the announcement of their fight to avoid problems with the International Boxing Federation (IBF). According to Hearn, the IBF could have forced the Ukrainian to fight its mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic.

"I knew they were far advanced in the negotiations. I didn't expect the fight to be announced so quickly, but there is definitely a mandatory challenger situation. So they really needed to announce this fight to block the mandatory defense against Hrgovic," Hearn said in an interview with Seconds Out YouTube channel, as translated by fightnews.info.

The promoter is confident that such a mega-fight, scheduled for November/December 2023, will only benefit world boxing.

On September 29, it became known that Usyk and Fury signed a contract for a fight for the title of absolute world champion.

Earlier, Fury made a radically new statement about the fight with Usyk. Before that, insider Mike Coppinger said that the promoters were optimistic about the chances of organizing a fight between the Ukrainian and the Briton.

In addition, Fury called Usyk a f raud after his victory over Dubois. The Gypsy King also mocked the Ukrainian for "rolling around the ring " after being hit in the fifth round of the fight on August 26.

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