Should usyk be stripped?

It’s ridiculous isn’t it. Joshua boxes Dubois for a vacant alphabet belt and then if he wins Hearn screams from the rooftops that he’s ‘the world champion’. Puke in mouth.

 

It's all about getting Usyk stripped, so Joshua can fight for the vacant belt and become a 3x heavyweight champion of the world. Propaganda in full works in this country, like always.

 

Of course not. He is literally the only heavy that matters at this point.

 

No, he should not be stripped.
But I wish he was scheduled to defend against someone other than Fury.
Parker, Zhang and then Kabayel are the most worthy contenders right now. & Dubois deserves a rematch more than Fury.

 

The joke is that the IBF mandatory is now Dubois who Usyk dismantled with ease less than a year ago. If the Fury rematch collapses, the IBF should at least allow Usyk a voluntary defence from their top 10 and he could then pick from Parker, Zhang or Kabayal

 

Yes. I think Dubois is actually a reasonable choice for #1 and has done enough to make a rematch feasible. But not to the point of being a mandatory.
Parker, Zhang .. Kabayel ... Dubois
are definitely the most worthy contenders right now.

 

On the other hand boxers don't pin themselves to particular bodies; Hrgovic maintained his IBF position for years despite no real evidence he was the top contender overall. Dubois (with advice from uncle Frank who's a master at these things) switched horses from WBA to IBF and finds himself back in the mix overnight.

The sanctioning bodies are a nonsense but if you can work them, why wouldn't you...

 

In one sense it's unfortunate that Dubois now holds the IBF mandatory. But the who is not really important. The when is the issue.

The IBF have had a mandatory challenger in place since August 20th 2022 (undercard of Usyk v Joshua 2). That Usyk isn't fulfilling his duties as their champion is essentially an Usyk problem.

Hrgovic had three fights since that date, and ended up losing. Usyk has only had two fights since then. And there is the problem...

Dubois v Joshua will be fight 4 for the IBF mandatory

 

But when you take a step back is the IBF actually that important in the scheme of things? Joshua won't care which alphabet belt he ends up with and Dubois is only there because his promoter has always been clever with the bodies. He was a WBA fighter last year.

We finally have one heavyweight champion - aside from Fury being contracted to a rematch who would the single most deserving challenger be? Joshua or Dubois? Parker?

As for Hearn... if Saudi decided that having one champion was more important and paid off the IBF, you can bet Hearn wouldn't be shouting too loud on behalf of Joshua - he'd play along like a good 'un. And if AJ/Dubois sets up the "mandatory for undisputed Saudi champion" then none of us would complain too much either.

 

Usyk is the man at heavyweight. THE man. I don't care if anyone else holds a world title belt. It means nothing until they beat Usyk. Zero... if anyone would care to pitch in with other words that mean nothing.. that would be most welcome.

 

Joshua picking up another title like this

 

Yeah, I agree. Not many will complain. In truth, the ship sailed on the IBF stripping Usyk when the Saudis rescheduled undisputed (for a second time) to 2024. The trouble is though, by the IBF not stripping Usyk, it will have a knock-on effect on the whole division (again). The next batch of contenders in waiting will be in the same position as Hrgovic, Joyce, and Zhang were in. They won't get title shots until 2025 at the earliest, and the money men want to keep it that way. It's the same merry-go-round of the same old faces with the biggest fan bases.

Who really deserve a title shot: Kabayel, Parker, and Zhang

Who are actually going to get title shots: Fury and Joshua. It stinks

 

It was always thus, but you can see a path through to something better. Let's say AJ-Dubois gets done and Parker-Kabayel too, we could call those semi-finals for a title shot, and then the winners fight on Fury-Usyk's undercard. How good would that be? Better than one single fight becoming alphabet mandatory which is kind of meaningless outside one fighter/promoter.