WBO orders Usyk vs Parker

It's been 21 days since the WBO ordered the fight. Hopefully we'll know more by next week.

The result of Itauma-Whyte may have some bearing on Usyk's decision, since Turki wants Usyk to fight Itauma.

I think beating a faded Whyte is not enough to qualify Itauma for a shot at the undisputed title. Parker deserves it more.

I'll be somewhat disappointed in Usyk (my favorite fighter) if he avoids Parker.

 

And avoid a Mando?
Would that be OK if one was presented to him?

 

That wasn't what I asked.

 

Joshua might get qualified as the mandatory for all we know, he certainly brings enough money and is already ranked like 6th or something.

As far as I am aware their are only a few ways to not fight a mandatory once its been called, injury being one, negotiating with the mandatory and coming to an agreement to fight at a later date, prioritising a unification or dropping the title etc.

In this scenario I imagined no mandatory had been called, but if it had, then if Parker negotiated with them to fight Joshua first, I'm perfectly happy with that. If a mandatory hasn't been called then I'm happy if he takes Joshua as a voluntary.

 

Because they wanted to give negotiation a chance as an act of good faith and to set good terms between both teams. Its pretty standard practice when approaching negotiations like this. It also helps with PR if Parker's team tries to negotiate first, it makes it look like they are acting above board and keen for the fight.

 

Agree with your first couple of points but the scenario here is that Parker IS Usyk's mandatory.

 

Wait, I'm confused now, I thought we were talking about a hypothetical where Usyk dropped the WBO and Parker got elevated.

If we are talking about Parker fighting Joshua instead of Usyk, I don't think Parker would take that fight. Hed much prefer to fight Usyk for all the belts.

The only way I could see it would be if Usyk and Parker came to an agreement to fight after Parker vs Joshua. Otherwise I think Parker would rather just take the WBO or the Usyk fight for all the belts.

 

If they wanted to give the negotiation period a chance in good faith, then why are they complaining that they haven't heard anything yet? The negotiation period is still in place. That doesn't seem like good faith. If his team doesn't hear anything after that period is over I could understand. It's all above board to request an immediate purse bid. Either side can request it during the negotiation period, it's pretty standard practice. Parker's team is just like every other fighter's team, trying to get the best deal available, instead of the standard purse split. His team should have requested an immediate purse bid as soon as it was ordered. It would have been a better look towards forcing the fight, than waiting around to negotiate purses. It is in Usyk's best interests to let the period play out, he just fought, so more time to rest & recover.

 

Didn't realize the thread had become a hypothetical. I'll reassess things when the 30 day period expires.

 

My point is Uysk is getting stick here for potentially avoiding his Mando in Parker

I'm curious If Parker fans would criticise him if he elevated and then turns down a mandatory fight to go for a bigger money fight like AJ

 

Usually I'd agree to not giving AJ that shot. Parker may want to avenge that loss though

 

Would a fresh champ have a Mando so quickly though?

It's also worth noting that Usyk has never had a mandatory title defense at heavyweight.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Usyk has one defense against Dubios in 2023.

 

Yes it's very possible

Look how many champions have been stripped quickly for not taking one

And I be wrong but by winning the WBA regular didn't Dubois became a mandatory?

Because in April 2023 the WBA ordered that fight

So with that in mind Parker and Uysk both have 1 mandatory defence each with Parkers being H. Fury

 

I stand corrected.

To clarify, I fully expect Parker to fight his mandatory if given one. I wouldn't expect him to avoid them anyway, he'll clearly fight anyone.

 

I guess the issue Team Parker will be having is how do they even open negotiations. What can they offer Usyk to come to the table. And going straight to purse bids in not exactly an attractive option.

The WBO don't have a purse-split rule for champion v interim champion (WBC and IBF do for example). By their rules it looks like the split would be 80-20 in favour of Usyk:
If the fight takes place in the champion’s country of origin, residence, or nationality:

Champion receives 75% of the purse
Mandatory challenger receives 25% ​

If the fight takes place in any other country (i.e., not the champion's home country):

Champion receives 80% of the purse
Challenger receives 20%
​

Usyk has no need to negotiate, and Parker pushing for the fight will be another Dillian Whyte situation (where as interim champion he gets 20%). Heck it might even be worse behind the scenes. We know Team Usyk has argued in the past with the WBO that splits should be based on last three purses (see Joyce) so just like Team Fury they will try to negotiate around standard guidelines to get a bigger slice of the pie at the expense of what seems "fair".

However, this does make things somewhat interesting because if Usyk is getting 80% to fight Parker, then there should be no reason for Usyk not to take the fight