Usyk saying no Itauma

I don't rate Wardley as highly as that, at least not yet...

In that sense, it's a decent fight along similar lines to Bakole (decent opponent who might be more than decent, but might well not be), and in that sense it's not really that unusual.

 

I think Wardley is top 10 now if we go by recent wins streaks, Clarke and Adeleye are limited opposition, and Huni still has things to prove.

But there isn't many heavyweights with even 3 wins on the trot against named opponents at the moment.

 

Résumé doesn’t fight for you, Moses sparks him.

 

I think we can both agree that the belt holders need to be more active and the sanctioning bodies need to do more to get these mandatory fights made,especially like you say in the multiple belt era that we have now. Even for Parker say having to wait two years for his title shot then you have Bivol who has sat as WBA Champion since 2017 and has made one single mandatory defence iirc since being Champion and that was in 2022 (Ramirez). Bivol has since vacated the WBC Title as they wanted him to defend against there mandatory Benavidez but Bivol is pursuing the trilogy with Beterbiev so the rest of the belts and mandatory fights are held up once more . The IBF had asked twice in less than a year to have there mandatory fighter get his shot however Bivol now has a medical exemption after surgery for a back issue and has also issued a verification of injury to the WBO as well.

 

Completely agree.

Likewise, I'd like to see orgs go harder on guys trying to sit on position and avoid proving they deserve to keep it - fighting opponents ranked too low (or not fighting at all) should invalidate mandatory status much more quickly than it does, IMHO.

 

Quite possibly.

Equally... I don't define who's a top contender on rankings.

For me, legit contenders are guys who can realistically win belts without flukes ("punchers chance") or robberies.
Then fringe contenders are the guys who could fluke it, but would have to get very lucky.

Does Wardley fit the latter category? Possibly, but it's hard to say without seeing him fight anyone at that level - and it's difficult to prove it when there are so few legit contenders available (definitely two, two more that probably are, a couple who might still be but have been inactive).

It's a thin division

 

Good. Parker has beaten everyone he's needed to for the last 3/4 fights and can't get a crack. Knocking out a decrepit Dillian Whyte shouldn't be a ticket to Usyk.

 

B..but Usyk ducking doe? He don't want dat smoke...

 

What’s funny is a week or so ago those same ones were saying “B.. but he ain’t quite ready for Usyk yet! Ain’t got enough experience! Give him another two years doe and he will be!”

 

I think turning down the eliminator against Sanchez told us what the plan is for Itauma. They’re going to be patient and wait for Usyk to age or retire.

 

Yep they would love for Moses to get Usyk when he is 41/42 but if the fight never happens they will claim he was ducked.

 

Exactly.

They don't want to even risk fighting hypejobs for ridiculous amounts of credit and a huge leap up the pecking order for a title fight... Tells you everything you need to know, doesn't it?