WBO orders Usyk vs Parker

The only way Usyk gets the AJ fight or the Fury fight is to sign a contract that includes a rematch. If he doesn't go through with the rematch he gets sued for breach of contract.

The only time he's had a mandatory called is when Warren manipulated the sanctioning bodies to get Dubois inserted as mandatory for the WBA. That was to throw up a roadblock and keep Usyk away from Fury who was more interested in fighting Chisora and an MMA guy. Usyk didn't shirk it. He just went and got Dubois to quit after Dubois low-blowed him 20 times.

At no point did the sanctioning bodies demand Hrgovic get his shot at the title. If they had, Usyk would have been stripped. And lets be honest, Hrgovic is dogwater and didn't deserve to be mandatory either. He was just signed to Matchroom so they robbed Zhang when Hrgovic fought him and made him mandatory as a favor to Eddie Hearn.

 

You sure get defensive when anything even marginally negative is said about this guy.
Speaking of Whyte, I didn't mention him because that was the WBO blocking a fight with Usyk.

At the end of the day, Usyk signed up for three rematches off his own back. He was mandatory for Joshua. He chose to sign for the rematch, it wasn't required.
I will give him the benefit of the doubt over Fury, as he had to submit to get him to the table.
He chose to sign for a rematch with Dubois.
It is what it is...

I'm not saying he is ducking btw, I think he just loves money as much as the next prize fighter.

 

Nonsense, you think Joshua drops the WBO belt rather than face Usyk? He was WBO mandatory no rematch clause was required. It's in the rules.
Fury I agree with you

 

I mean, to be honest, I don't want to be too super critical of Usyk, as he is 4-0 against the two considered the two best.

However, I don't like how certain fans just give him a pass pre-emptively for not taking fights with excusing like "well he only has one fight left", "what does he have left to prove", etc. etc.
He has been champion for years now and we are still, will he won't he, fight the mandatory contenders, it's wild

It was the same thing with the die-hard Fury fans when he scheduled Chisora 3 and then Ngannou (moving the goal posts of what was acceptable)
It was the same thing with the die-hard Joshua fans when he cancelled the Wembley date and then went to America

 

This does not begin to make sense. Did you expect Usyk to go out of his way to avoid putting a rematch clause into contract during negotiations with then biggest star in the division?

Hell, I agree - Usyk should have anticipated that some random guy would criticize him for that 5 years later.

 

I am saying this excuse that Usyk needed to fight Joshua twice is nonsense.

Joshua does not drop the belt. He wanted to make undisputed. No one really believes he would drop the belt.

My point was that Usyk chose to do it. He did it because he wanted money. That was the underlying point I'm trying to make.

 

He did "what'? It was AJ team who put in the rematch clause into the contract, not Usyk.
It's ridiculous to expect Usyk to got out of his way to avoid the rematch clause in negotiations where he obviously is a Side B, and has zero reasons to do that.

 

Usyk by right as WBO mandatory can refuse the rematch clause. He chose to fight Joshua twice for more money. And in fairness he in all likelihood wasn't the first mandatory to do so. But it doesn't mean it was forced upon him

He could have moved onto the next opponent like he was doing at Cruiserweight

 

Thanks for your thoughts, and I have to say they're hard to disagree with.

In the end though his heavyweight resume will be seen as pretty solid considering the options available to him.
And I for one believe his choices to be less to do with money and more to do with big fights meaning more eyes on Usyk, which is what both he and Turki want for their own reasons.
Frank and the rest are in it for the cash so will do what Turki and Usyk want, which for Turki is to make his home country seem less like a haven for human rights abuse, and Usyk... well I suspect it's more for his countrymen at this stage, and earlier about keeping Ukraine top of people's minds.
As a kiwi and a long term Parker fanboy I don't want him to duck Parker (or Kabayel) but those fights don't align as well as others with his motivations imo
And yeah, duck is a hard word to apply when the reason for the duck isn't avoiding a dangerous fighter, but I don't have another word for what it seems like will happen here, even if I don't believe Usyk fears anyone in the division at this point.

 

Sorry I missed this Markus. But as above, I find it almost impossible to believe that they would drop the belt to Usyk rather than face him as a mandatory. The goal at that time, as you might recall, was very much making Undisputed.
And if they for some financially strategic reason did, that is not exactly a negative for Usyk. As he would still hold a piece and the goal is undisputed.

 

If he gets through Chisora, which feels less likely by the day imo, and this gets made I'm looking forward to some juicy odds on my boy Parker and will lay out some decent cash on him.
That would be far too rapid a rise in level of opposition for Itauma imo

 

"Refused to fight who's not the best" hahahaha

Must be exhausting to be an Usyk critic.

 

I understand that Parker is the mandatory challenger and I would also like this fight to happen. However, it raises the question - who is going to organize it, given that Riyadh Season is not interested?
Who will put up enough money to make the fight worthwhile for both fighters, especially for Usyk, who could probably earn significantly more from a few other fights backed by Turki?

 

Well, I suppose at least you are in the right place. This is a fan forum:
"I will uncritically support everything Usyk does"

 

That's where I'd rather be, instead of a place where people would bust their asses to criticize a fighter who almost exclusively fights the best and represents literally everything that's good about boxing in an age where It's invaded by divas and influencers.