Oleksandr Usyk has been given permission to defend his WBC heavyweight title against Deontay Wilder, after saying Wilder is the opponent he wants next.
Usyk recently said Wilder is his “first choice” for his next fight. However, Wilder is not ranked in the top 10 by the major boxing bodies (WBA, WBC, IBF), which normally means Usyk would have to give up some of his belts if he wanted to fight him.
But the WBC announced at their annual meeting that they will not force Usyk to fight a mandatory challenger right now. This means Usyk is free to choose Wilder for his next title defence.
Usyk last fought in July, beating Daniel Dubois to become undisputed heavyweight champion for the second time. In November, he gave up his WBO belt instead of fighting mandatory challenger Fabio Wardley, but he still holds the WBA, IBF, and WBC titles.
The WBC also announced that the winner of a future fight between British boxers Lawrence Okolie and Moses Itauma will become the next mandatory challenger for Usyk’s belt. Other British fighters like Joshua Buatsi, Ben Whittaker, and Conor Benn were also mentioned as potential title contenders.
In other news, the WBC stripped Terence Crawford of his super-middleweight belt because he did not pay his last two sanctioning fees. He still holds the WBA ‘Super’, WBO, and IBF super-middleweight titles.
