The WBO have ordered Oleksandr Usyk to defend against Joseph Parker

Well now here's an interesting development.

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Makes sense, last time a WBO mandatory got called was... well, Usyk himself!

Between this and Frank Warren saying that he expected to announce Dubois' next fight in the coming weeks, while not definitively saying it'd be Usyk, it seems like there's a chance the rematch may not be next as we've all assumed. Prolly wishful thinking on my part, but here's hoping we don't have to see Usyk in yet another rematch at all. Nothing against Dubois but I'm hoping he drops the belt to someone else in the meantime just so we can see Usyk close out his career with a couple of new faces.

Course watch Dubois rematch AJ and we somehow end up with that trilogy fight being how Usyk wraps things up Ideally we'd see Dubois and Kabayel fight while this was going on, but I ain't holding my breath for this, let alone something like that.

 

Definitely. Parker and Dubois have both been on great tears, but the fact is Dubois already had his crack at Usyk. Not saying Dubois shouldn't get a second opportunity if he can hold onto the IBF title, but for now, hopefully it's time we see some new names on that resume

 

He's said that he wants to become undisputed again, so unless he's changed his mind (which you can never discount of course) I think he'll try to hold onto the title. Could mean a step aside fee, but hopefully it means a defense.

For what it's worth, Frank Warren did an interview with BoxNation and was point blank asked if Dubois would be fighting Usyk next. He responded by saying Dubois had a big fight lined up and he hoped to announce it in the next few weeks, and then when asked about Joseph Parker brought up Parker's status as an interim champ. Then not long after, the interviewer asked about Parker getting his shot at Usyk and Warren reiterated that Parker was the mandatory for the WBO and that they were next in line for the rotation.

Just speculation on my part, but that sounds pretty promising for Parker. Certainly sounds better than the discourse since the Dubois-Parker fight was called off!

 

I get what you're saying, and for a minute I considered the idea that he'd just drop the WBO title for now, get the IBF and then go after the WBO again for undisputed, but the Frank Warren interview has me thinking otherwise. Sounds kind of like Warren wants Dubois to do some other fight and force the Parker match in the meantime. Could just be me hearing what I wanna hear, but he was emphasizing Parker's mandatory status an awful lot.

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There it is, for the curious. Segment starts around 8:38.