The WBA title dilemma in the heavyweight division was finally addressed—and in a big way.
A significant step was made towards eliminating all secondary WBA titles, as the sanctioning body ordered a consolidation clash between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois. The call came during the ratings and championships portion of the WBA Centennial Convention on Monday at Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Usyk holds the WBA ‘Super’ title along with the IBF/WBO belts, while Dubois is the WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight titlist.
The timing was curious as Usyk is already forced to choose between two other fights, including an undisputed showdown with lineal/WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24KOs). The reigning WBA ‘Super’/IBF/WBO heavyweight titlist was already ordered to next face IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic. The IBF called for a 30-day negotiation period beginning November 12, though Hrgovic—through co-promoters Matchroom Boxing and Wasserman Boxing—requested an immediate purse bid hearing.
Monday’s ruling was justified in that the WBA should be next in the rotation of mandatories challenging for the unified crown. The last WBA ‘Super’ mandatory title defense came in September 2018, when then-unbeaten Anthony Joshua scored a knockout win over Alexander Povetkin.
Joshua has since lost and regained the titles in a two-fight series with Andy Ruiz, before once again losing the belts following a twelve-round defeat to Usyk last September in North London. Ukraine’s Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) retained his unified titles in a repeat win over Joshua on August 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Dubois (19-1, 18KOs) claimed the WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight title in a fourth-round knockout of previously unbeaten Trevor Bryan on June 11 in Miami, Florida. His reign was nearly short-lived, as the Londoner survived a horrific opening round versus Kevin Lerena where he was down three times to rally and score a controversial third-round stoppage on December 3 in North London.
The win over Lerena came as the chief support to Fury’s one-sided tenth-round stoppage win over Derek Chisora in a pointless trilogy clash. Usyk was ringside for the occasion, as was interim WBO titlist Joe Joyce who knocked out Dubois in the tenth round of their November 2020 meeting of unbeaten British heavyweights.
Hall of Fame promoter Frank Warren has Fury, Dubois and Joyce, all through his Queensberry Promotions outfit Francis Warren, Frank’s son, represented Queensberry during the WBO convention in late October where he lobbied for Joyce to get next in the heavyweight rotation should Usyk not next face Fury. It was dismissed by the Puerto Rico-headquartered sanctioning body who acknowledged that the IBF was up next and that Usky was the WBO mandatory when he faced Joshua.
The call for Usyk-Dubois, however, speaks more to the WBA’s renewed commitment to eliminating all secondary titles from existence. The title reduction campaign began last summer, with just six divisions still claiming multiple WBA titleholders—heavyweight, super middleweight, middleweight, welterweight, lightweight and strawweight.
While all signs point to Fury-Usyk becoming a real possibility in 2023, it remains to be seen how many titles will be at stake. The WBA ordered a featherweight title consolidation clash between Leo Santa Cruz and Leigh Wood, reaching the point where the sanctioning body threatened to strip both fighters if they continued to avoid each other. Santa Cruz ultimately vacated on Monday, leaving Wood as the sole WBA featherweight titlist.
The sanctioning body could take the same strong arm approach, where refusal by either Usyk or Dubois to commit could result in either—or both—being stripped and their version of the title removed from existence.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox