Oleksandr Krasyuk, CEO of K2 Promotions, stated in an interview with Sport.ua that WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is a potential contender in the event of a breakdown in his fight with WBC title holder Tyson Fury.

– If the fight against Fury suddenly fails, who will be Usyk’s next opponent? In this context, the names of Daniel Dubois and Filip Hrgovic appear in the press.

– Let’s try fortune-telling on coffee grounds. However, if the fight for the absolute doesn’t happen for any reason, and it’s most likely the rejection of Tyson Fury or some objective one that we can’t influence, then Daniel Dubois is next. That is, the next opponent to defend the title.

Although Filip Hrgovic has been on the agenda before, this situation was artificially created by Filip Hrgovic’s team, especially Eddie Hearn. They have such a situation that they did their job and took the risk, in an instant it will be possible to organize it. But we’ve joined forces and put the IBF to common sense and over the last 15 years Wladimir Klitschko, then Anthony Joshua etc. continued to operate. This order makes sense.

According to the rules of each of the organizations, mandatory protection must occur within 12 months. If a boxer is recognized as a WBA or WBO super champion, the special period is set at 18 months. But even with such deadlines, it is physically unrealistic to make three mandatory defenses during this time. For this reason, organizations have adopted a rotation system in which the mandatory defense order is followed.

Going back in history, Usyk was mandatory for the WBO, while Kubrat Pulev was mandatory for the IBF. Joshua then had to fight WBO mandatory opponent Oleksandr Usyk, after which Oleksandr Usyk got into a fight with Joshua in which he defended his belts. The WBA is next, as the WBO and IBF are already holding their defense. And now there is already a mandatory contender – Daniel Dubois.