Current WBA regular champion Murat Gassiev’s camp believe Oleksandr Usyk should be stripped of his WBA super world title if he hasn’t been passed to defend it against Rico Verhoeven.
Usyk has received a negative backlash after announcing his upcoming voluntary defence against largely unknown kick-boxer Rico Verhoeven in Egypt this May in Egypt.
The WBC made confirmation that their version of the heavyweight title will be on the line, but the IBF and WBA belts are not set to be sanctioned for defence.
Usyk has already been forced to vacate his WBO belt after displaying little interest in facing the then mandatory challenger Fabio Wardley, who was subsequently upgraded to WBO champion.
Gassiev earned the title with a surprise stoppage of the stagnant previous holder Kubrat Pulev last year and his promoter Al Siesta wants his fighter to receive the same courtesy that Wardley did in similar circumstances, even if the Ukrainian is stripped of the WBA.
Siesta stated that they were awaiting communication from the WBA regarding the status of Usyk as ‘Super’ champion, in these circumstances.
The fact remains that Usyk has not made a mandatory defence of his WBA title since August of 2023, when he faced Dubois in Poland, largely due to the champion having larger obligations to the priority of unification fights.
On this occasion Usyk appears to be looking to cash in financially against a kick-boxer, in the same vein that Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury did before him in gimmick matches with Francis Ngannou. All that Gassiev’s people are asking is that such events don’t clog up the traffic in a lively heavyweight division.
If the WBA heavyweight title (Super Version) is not at stake for Usyk against Verhoeven, then it only makes logical sense to strip him of the title or reduce him to the position of Champion in Recess.
A move of this nature would allow Murat Gassiev to be promoted to Super champion. Siesta guarantees that Murat will defend his WBA title with pride against the most deserving opponent available and is not interested in gimmick type fights.
The proven Gassiev who previously boxed Usyk at Cruiserweight has serious designs on the champion’s WBA strap, stating, ‘if Usyk wishes to reclaim his title, Murat would be more than happy to oblige him.’
At its 63rd Annual Convention in Bangkok, Thailand, the WBC granted Champion Usyk a voluntary defence.
Subsequently, the WBC received a petition to sanction the Usyk v Herhoeven fight as a voluntary defence, the championship committee came to unanimous approval to back the defence taking into consideration Usyk’s impeccable reputation and activity at world level and is the sole championship belt that draws universal attention to his upcoming fight.