Frank Warren believes Tyson Fury should get another shot at the undisputed heavyweight title in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk. Warren’s words will come as a blow to Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, who were planning to meet for the IBF title.
The Ukrainian is expected to be stripped of his IBF championship before the rematch later this year, but Warren says it cannot be taken away until he has fulfilled his ban. Following his hard-fought victory over Fury in Saudi Arabia, Usyk has been banned from fighting until June 2. The British fighter was also suspended, but it was removed on May 25.
Usyk has already requested an exception to keep hold of his IBF title, and Fury’s promoter thinks it’s only right that the two are able to fight for all four belts again despite Joshua and the Gypsy King’s stablemate, Dubois, wanting their crack at the title.
Dubois is fighting Filip Hrgovic this weekend in a top heavyweight clash, with the winner expected to fight AJ later in the year either for the IBF world title or a final eliminator bout. There had been whispers that the IBF title could be on the line this weekend for Dubois and Hrgovic but Warren believes it should only be the interim title up for grabs.
Warren told Seconds Out: “He has been suspended, Oleksandr, because of how tough the fight was. I think it’s 45 or 40 days by the commission so he cannot be stripped at this stage of the same because he’s not in a position to defend his title so we will see what happens. That fight we just spoke about Dubois vs Hrgovic is a fantastic fight and in the worst-case scenario it’ll be an interim title fight. If it goes ahead as an interim title fight, I have no problem with that.
“A lot of people will be p***ed off at me saying this, especially Hrgovic’s camp and maybe with Daniel who I’m involved with but I feel like it should be for the interim because I think the rematch should be for the four belts.”
It remains to be seen whether Usyk will be able to keep hold of his belt but with a request already submitted to the IBF, and Warren’s insistence that the rematch against Fury should be for the undisputed crown again, Joshua and Dubois could be forced to wait for their shot.
The promoter was complimentary of Joshua, who is riding a three-fight winning streak and suggested his next foray in the ring should come against Dubois providing the Brit comes through against Hrgovic. “That’s what everybody wants to see, that’s what I’d love to see, AJ is coming off a really good line of form at the moment, he’s looked very good in his last two fights and him and Ben Davison is obviously a partnership that’s really working well,” he added.
Frank Warren sounded off on the heavyweight division on the Seconds Out YouTube channel.
“Let’s just say how it is, who wouldn’t want to see the winner of Hrgovic and Daniel Dubois fight [AJ] and I hope it’s Daniel because then it’ll be an all-British affair, two massive big punchers, [it] don’t get more exciting than that.
“Whatever happens, even if it is for the interim title, that means when the rematch happens [between Usyk and Fury], it means whoever wins it will have to fight against one of those guys [Dubois or Hrgovic or Joshua].”
