WBA faces questions over lucrative Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury title plan

Should reports be true that suggest the WBA intend to decorate the Anthony Joshua-Tyson Fury showdown with the WBA ‘super’ heavyweight title, the sanctioning body will have questions to answer from the team of Murat Gassiev.

Gassiev currently holds the WBA ‘world’ title and since Oleksandr Usyk relinquished three belts in June, including the WBA ‘super’ title, he has been the organization’s sole leader at heavyweight.

In the latest WBA heavyweight rankings, Gassiev is listed as champion, Jarrell Miller is No. 1, with Fury and Joshua – set to fight in Cardiff on December 11 – as second and third respectively.

“Murat Gassiev is the reigning WBA heavyweight world champion,” stated Gassiev’s co-promoter Ivaylo Gotzev of epic sports and entertainment. “He won his championship in the ring, has defended it and has fulfilled his responsibilities as champion.

“If a new super champion is now to be designated above the existing world champion, then there must be absolute clarity about how that decision is consistent with the WBA’s rules, rankings and championship structure.”

Should the ‘super’ title be contested between Joshua and Fury, it will be the first time the belt has been on the line in a heavyweight bout between two non-beltholders.

In July, with Joshua-Fury negotiations ongoing, Fury’s manager Spencer Brown made a public plea to the WBA to reintroduce the ‘super’ heavyweight title.

“I want to see the WBA [super title] for the [Joshua-Fury] super fight,” he told BoxingScene. “I’d love to see it because it’s vacant. Why couldn’t them two fight for it? Could there be any better a fight? One of them will become a three-time world champion. I love that.

“If you’re watching, WBA, get in touch, please.”

The WBA super title was originally designed for champions who also held belts with other sanctioning bodies. Over time, the championship existed not just for ‘unified’ champions but also established titlists and allowed the WBA to have multiple ‘champions’, including ‘interim’ beltholders, in every weight class.

In 2021, the Association of Boxing Commissions (ABC) demanded that the WBA reduce the number of titles. At the time, WBA president Gilberto Mendoza said: “We will reduce titles permanently. That flexibility we’ve had with championships, we will phase it out progressively.”

By June 2024 the WBA recognized 27 champions across 18 divisions. By June 2026, however, that figure had risen sharply to 43. “The WBA remains committed to its goal of reducing the number of world champions,” a statement from the organization read in the face of the increase.

Like every sanctioning body, the WBA charge sanctioning fees for any contest involving a WBA title of any description, whether a world or regional belt. At the organization’s annual convention in December 2024, Mendoza revealed that 67 per cent of its gross annual revenue came from sanctioning fees alone. That equated to $4 million from the purses of fighters being paid to the WBA.

The sanctioning fee is a fixed percentage of the fighters’ purse. Joshua and Fury, two of the biggest earners in boxing history, are set to secure career-high paydays.

“They’re getting paid more than any British fighter has earned in a fight ever,” Fury's promoter Frank Warren told Sky Sports on Thursday.

The WBA, therefore, could be on the brink of securing an incredible sum in sanctioning fees for the bout. Before that, however, they will be under pressure to be transparent about the purpose and existence of the title.

“We are formally seeking clarification from the WBA and, where applicable, enforcement of Murat’s rights under its rules and regulations,” Gotzev continued.

“The prestige of a sanctioning body is built on the credibility of its championships. A world title has value because fighters know what they must do to earn it, champions what they must do to keep it, and the public understands what that championship represents.”