Promoter Alex Krassyuk has said that if an undisputed title fight fails to materialise between his fighter Oleksandr Usyk (20-0 13KO) and Tyson Fury (33-0-1 24KO), the unified world champion will not be short of a challenger to dethrone him. Usyk, the holder of the WBA, WBO and IBF world heavyweight titles, has a list of mandatories lined up that must be obligated to retain all of his titles.
Daniel Dubois (19-1 18 KO) is one of the leading names to face Usyk if Fury is unwilling to face the Ukrainian, that's if the WBC world champion Fury does not keep pricing himself out of an undisputed heavyweight showdown. Fury has set out what he wants: a 70/30 split in his favour, which decreases 1% per day for every day Usyk refuses to sign terms.
Krassyuk, who has been involved with Usyk for all of his career so far, spoke to ID Boxing about the options available to Usyk if a Fury fight could not be agreed upon. Usyk has mandatories with the WBA, IBF & WBO to negate, with Daniel Dubois currently in pole position to secure a shot at Usyk. If that particular fight is agreed upon, then the WBA will have only one world champion at heavyweight in line with its commitment to reduce the number of its world title per weight division.
Krassyuk feels a fight with Dubois will still be a big attraction in the UK.
Krassyuk says he would, however, need to ensure that Dubois is fit to return to the ring after Dubois suffered a leg injury during his contest last December against Kevin Lerena. Dubois was knockdown three times in the opening round before halting Lerena in round three to retain his WBA "regular" world heavyweight title. Dubois became WBA "regular" titleholder after stopping previous title holder Trevor Bryan in Florida, USA, inside four rounds.
“Dubois went through some hell in his last fight, so probably he’s recovered. We expect that he did, but we have to see the medicals. It’s something to be disclosed within the next couple of days. We’re still expecting the official decision from Fury.”
