Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are set to clash this Saturday in their much-anticipated rematch, for the WBA, WBC, and WBO heavyweight titles. Fury finally met his match and took his first loss in May, when the Ukrainian won by split decision following what turned out to be an enthralling match. WBO President, Gustavo Olivieri, has spoken to George Glinski at TalkSport on whether a Fury Usyk trilogy may be possible.
The WBO is the next body in line to order a mandatory challenger for the champion. This means that the WBO could order the winner of Fury vs Usyk 2 to face their top contender and strip them of their belt if they choose to fight in a trilogy instead.
Olivieri has stated, however, that the WBO would not get in the way of a potential trilogy, if Saturday’s result warrants a third and final installment. He said, ‘Why would I or the committee prevent the trilogy taking place?’.
He elaborates, ‘If there is a trilogy, we will certainly allow it to happen. I think it would be a grave injustice from the WBO and me as the acting and newly elected president to prevent a trilogy from happening.’
WBO Strips Heavyweight Title
Olivieri did reveal, however, that though the WBO would not enforce a mandatory to stand in the way of Fury Usyk 3, they will strip the interim title from Joseph Parker as a result of him facing Daniel Dubois.
Speaking on the Parker vs Dubois fight, Olivieri said, ‘When you have an interim champion, we don’t unify an interim champion with a legitimate champion from another organization, that is our policy.’
He goes on to say the WBO have no issue with Parker fighting for the IBF, and out of respect will allow him to keep the WBO interim title, and be announced for that bout as WBO interim heavyweight champion, but ‘once the bell rings, signifying the commencement of the fight, the title should be declared vacant automatically.’
The next contenders for the vacant WBO interim heavyweight title will be Justis Huni, and Moses Itauma (providing he gets past Demsey McKean this Saturday). Itauma and his team have long expressed a goal to beat Mike Tyson’s record of being the youngest heavyweight champion of the world, and though this may not happen, the proposition of facing Huni for the interim title in the near-future is bound to get him close.
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