A new era in the heavyweight division has begun after Oleksandr Usyk vacated his WBC, WBA and IBF world titles.
Usyk became the dominant force in boxing’s premier weight class with double wins over Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois.
The Ukrainian became undisputed via the Fury rivalry, but vacated his WBO belt last year. Fabio Wardley was quickly elevated to full champion, though he has since lost the belt to Dubois.
Most recently, Usyk retained his three remaining belts with a win over former kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven. He was then ordered to defend his WBC against interim champ Agit Kabayel, but ultimately decided against it and vacated that belt along with the WBA and IBF.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman has wasted no time in announcing that Germany’s Kabayel has now been upgraded to full champion.
“I just finished an incredibly sensitive Zoom video call con AGIT Kabayel, George Warren, Spencer Brown and some WBC board members in have confirmed that AGIT is the WBC Heavyweight champion of the world as per the WBC board of governors voting. Congratulations champ!”
Kabayel was deserving of his shot against Usyk with wins over Arslanbek Makhmudov, Zhilei Zhang and Frank Sanchez. Though he has not won the belt in the ring, fans will look forward to a first defence later this year.
The status of the other belts has not yet been made clear, though certain heavyweights will benefit. The WBA Regular belt is currently held by Murat Gassiev, who is set to face Tony Yoka next month.
Sanchez recently beat American prospect Richard Torrez Jr in an IBF final eliminator, meaning his next bout will be for the vacant belt. British fans will keep a close eye on highly-ranked Moses Itauma and how he will be manoeuvred after his upcoming clash with Filip Hrgovic.