Oleksandr Usyk should do the honorable thing and vacate the IBF belt

Ridiculous, none of these belts should even exist.
Fury Usyk winner is the only legitimate champion, creatung another "champ" by vacating a belt only adds more confusion.

If anything, the undisputed champ should either fight more often or just vacate ALL belts, rendering them useless.
If someone grabs them, then they should fight the lineal and the winner should just refuse to pay the sanctioning fee and dump it again. Rinse and repeat until the Alphabet orgs just wither, descend into irrelevance and go bankrupt

 

No way. All the belts need to be on the line for Fury/Usyk. It's a fight of tremendous historic importance, and no one other than those two have an argument for being the #1 HW in of this generation.

 

We shouldn't forget Usyk refused to take step aside (or be rail-roaded into fighting Joyce for WBO interim). Usyk wasn't going to keep waiting and allow Fury v Joshua for undisputed...

Joshua threatened to drop the WBO title, but eventually Usyk forced his mandatory shot through the WBO. And he was right to do so.

The last IBF mandatory was Pulev, and Hrgovic is the mandatory challenger. So, by rights it should be Hrgovic v Usyk OR step-aside.

Flag waving for anything else is saying you are okay with corruption. And if so, you can no longer complain at the slow death of the sport.

Like everyone, I will still pay to watch Usyk v Fury if the IBF belt isn't on the line. And the obvious rematch. But the money comes with being the champion, and champions defend their belts.

 

I am happy all the belts will be on the line in the first Fury-Usyk fight and the winner will be the champion of the world, disputed by nobody, until such time as somebody beats them. That the winner gets the IBF belt taken off them straight after won't diminish from them or the significance of the second Fury-Usyk fight.

 

Vanact belt = paper champ

 

It's a bit like winning a bronze medal at the Olympics.

 

Haney and Lewis say hi

What do you call a champ that doesn't defend against the top fighters on their ladder?

A fake champ?

 

Winning a vacant strap is the definition of a paper champ. Didn't you ever hear that term before? I believe Haney was the Email Champ

 

Do you agree with it though?

I find it disrespectful to the fans, the sport and the guys who actually want to fight.

If you hold a belt and you refuse to defend it then frankly, f*** off and let those who do want to fight get on with it.

 

I mean, the winner of this fight will likely be stripped if a rematch goes ahead, but it isn't necessarily guaranteed a rematch will happen. If Usyk drops the IBF belt it could result in nothing more than prolonging his journey to hold all four belts at once and unnecessarily furthering the gap between undisputed champions. Granted, I don't think there will be anyone seriously disputing the winner of Usyk-Fury as the top of this generation, but still, we might as well have one fight where all four belts are at stake. There isn't a more perfect one for that than between two undefeated guys who are indisputably at the top of the division.

 

It's an interesting argument.

World champion to me means, or at least should mean, the best in the world. It does in most other sports, boxing being the exception.

I prefer the best two in the division fighting for undisputed world championship honours to an organization, of which there are far too many, sidetracking things by demanding their belt be defended against someone less than the best.

 

Y'know, thinking more on it... why doesn't the IBF just order an interim title fight? It keeps all four belts on the table for a potential rematch, ensures that their mandatory will either get to fight for all the marbles next or get elevated to a title should the undisputed champ decide to vacate or opt not to fight them following the rematch, and it's more sanctioning fees for them. Sure, it briefly adds another unnecessary title to the mix, but it's not like it would be around for long. Seems like the perfect solution to the problem.

Oh. That's why it won't happen. It makes too much sense. Silly me, I forgot I was talking about the boxing world for a second

 

No bronze is atleast nr 3.
Ive seen paper champs who arent even top 10 in their division

 

In the olympics the finalists can't refuse to fight any real rivals for over a year on route to becoming champion though.

Nah, this episode is more like when England and Scotland used to keep playing each other in a closed-shop match whilst pretending the World Cup didn't exist because they didn't want to risk losing their status as top dogs.