Oleksandr Usyk to be stripped of IBF belt immediately?

Balls of steel getting in with DeMori.

 

To be clear...

1) Hrgovic didn't do enough to earn that shot in the first place.

2) By hiding away to protect his mandatory status instead of improving himself by fighting better guys... He deserves it even less.

I disapprove of his tactics against Usyk - turning up intending to foul is a real punkass move...

But.

He's been willing to fight serious opponents despite a couple of losses, he's learning and he's not hiding.

Given his age, he's almost certainly a champion at some point... Hrgovic being older and incredibly protected could easily wind up not being.

 

To be fair i liked Dubois. But i liked him before he end up with that fraud Don Charles. If you look at the Miller fight, Dubois landed tons of low blows + was head charging first.
Don Charles is turning him into dirty fighter, which is something i disslike.

And Dubois had his chance, and just doesn't deserve it. But he will get it anyway, so it's irrelevant to waste time on it.

 

Wait, Usyk wants to fight Joshua again?!

I jest, slightly... I don't think it's clear who's #2 and who's #3.

My immediate thought, not having rewatched yet, is Fury gave Usyk a better fight, but not by that much...
But Usyk looked a bit slower and a touch less fluid.
Part of that is styles and use of size of his opponents - a big part, realistically, is age.

Therein lies the question mark - if Fury now did only slightly better against a lesser Usyk, and if Joshua hasn't declined since his Usyk fights (which I don't think he has)...
Which would have actually done better last night?

There's no real way of knowing, and the only real way to settle who's really #2 is by them fighting each other... Which is why it won't happen.
Whilst Fury thinks the world assumes he's still better than Joshua, that fight is all risk and not enough reward - so unless the money is on a totally different level, it won't happen.

Happy to be proven wrong, but I suspect we'll never see it.

 

We all knew the belts wouldn’t stay together after this fight and frankly speaking it doesn’t really matter we know who’s the clear number one in the division

Other fighters deserve a shot at the belt there’s only been one mandatory in the last two years across all four belts

Put yourself in the boxers shoes for years you fought your way up the rankings, paid your fees and because of the constant delays and messing around still haven’t had your shot boxers are in their primes for only a short period and should not be expected to put their careers on hold to please some internet fans who like all the belts to stay together

If the top guys fought 3-4 times a year this wouldn’t be an issue

 

Parker definitely does.

Kabayel looks good right now, he's done some decent work against fancied (but woefully under proven) up and coming fighters in Makhmudov and Sanchez...
But where's his resume against proven fighters? Where's the gatekeepers - Chisora 7 years ago and not much since??

For me, Kabayel is well positioned to take the kinds of fights that actually earn you title shots - but I need to see more before backing him as a contender.

Hrgovic... Likewise... He doesn't deserve title fights yet - a razor fine win against a guy who, at the time, was 0-0-1 against top 200 fighters (and is now 2-2-1 against top 200 fighters) isn't enough when his resume below that is so thin.

Like Kabayel, he's got enough recognition to take fights that earn you title fights - he doesn't deserve those shots just yet, IMHO.

 

Yet when Joshua was made to quit on his feet by Ruiz and lost the three belts the IBF mandatory was over due then (Pulev). Hearn lobbied the IBF arguing that Ruiz as the new IBF Champion was entitled to a first defence and that defence would be against Joshua,Ruiz was not stripped and kept the IBF belt until losing it in the rematch with Joshua. Usyk is the first Undisputed Heavyweight in 25 years and to strip him immediately imo is out of order especially after they did not strip Ruiz .

 

They could pay Hrgovic to step aside again. He doesn’t seem that interested in fighting for a title.

 

It probably depends how hard that mando or agent is pushing for the mandatory fight...
I can't remember if Pulev was willing to wait and/or use a wait to make better terms.

In this case, Hrgovic has been busy sitting on his ass, fighting only occasional bums, to protect his mandatory status - he's put his whole career on hold for it...
Shows alarming lack of confidence if you ask me, but it's obvious why he wouldn't want to compromise at all.

 

On the contrary, he seems not to be interested in fighting until he's had his shot.

Doesn't matter that he doesn't deserve it, he's running scared from any fight that'd challenge/improve him in case he loses that status - he's not going to step aside.

Cowardice if you ask me, but that's how it works with orgs.

 

He’s been the IBF mandatory for what, 3 years now? He could’ve petitioned for a shot or even sued them like what Lewis did in 96 with the WBC. He doesn’t care about being great.

 

Oh I totally agree he doesn't care about being great - he's not interested in being the best fighter he can be.

But I do think he's desperate for this fight and won't voluntarily back down - there's a big difference between not letting yourself get pushed back from a strong position and actually pushing forward yourself.

 

they should strip the IBF of any authority or credibility- its all about $ and corrupt authority - BS

 

Arent they the ones that stripped Crawford too? Who was - very publicly - contractually required to rematch Spence. WW didnt have an undisputed champ for a long time neither but all of a sudden the mandatory took precedence over an undisputed champion...GTFOH...

 

Your right about Hrgovic, keeps fighting bums, protecting his spot.