Applicants are put in a queue – Newspaper Kommersant No. 232 (7433) dated 12/14/2022

The World Boxing Association (WBA) has obliged the Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, who holds its main heavyweight title, to face the young British boxer Daniel Dubois. This decision, however, hardly means that the structure is trying to derail an exceptional duel in terms of significance and excitement, in which Usyk and Dubois’ compatriot Tyson Fury should compete for the title of absolute world champion. The WBA, most likely, just wants to reserve for Dubois the right to fight with the owner of such a status, whoever it becomes.

World Boxing association announced that she obliged Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, who owns her title of “super champion”, that is, the main one in the hierarchy of titles, to defend him in heavyweight in a duel with Briton Daniel Dubois, the so-called regular champion according to the structure.

At first glance, this is an unexpected event and even an attempt to provoke a conflict by disrupting the most important event for boxing next year.

Under him implied, of course, the duel between Alexander Usyk and another British fighter – Tyson Fury, doomed to cause a huge stir, if only because of his status. Usyk, who, in addition to the WBA title, owns the belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO), and the holder of the World Boxing Council (WBC) belt, Fury, should compete for the title of absolute world champion.

The discussion of the details of this fight started, in fact, a few months ago – right after Oleksandr Usyk fought for the second time in August contract defeated former category king Anthony Joshua, retaining all of his regalia. Tyson Fury repeatedly made his statements believe that he could actually refuse him, despite the guaranteed gigantic fee, but in the end, after defeating Derek Chisora ​​in early December, he confirmed that he was ready to fight Usyk. It was assumed that in the near future the process of agreeing on its terms would start.

However, it is unlikely that the decision means the intention to derail the ideal scenario for boxing. Sky Sports, evaluating him, suggests that the structure simply wants to “book a queue” for a fight with the undisputed champion for the young (he is 25 years old) and considered quite promising heavyweight Daniel Dubois.

Moreover, even if Dubois for some reason seeks to exercise his formal claimant right, it will be easy to convince him not to insist on it.

Daniel Dubois has the same manager, Frank Warren, and the same promotional company, Queensberry Promotions, as Tyson Fury. So, most likely, this story repeats the story of a month ago, when the IBF suddenly sanctioned a fight with Alexander Usik for its official challenger, Croat Filip Hrgovic. It had no practical implications.

The fact that the match between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is inevitable can be judged by some recent news. For example, according to Fury’s ESPN interview, in which he announced that he was already recruiting assistants to prepare for it, and among them even the famous former English footballer Wayne Rooney turned out to be. Or according to the confession made in a conversation with representatives of Queensberry Promotions by the brightest star of Russian professional boxing, Artur Beterbiev, who is the IBF, WBC and WBO light heavyweight champion. Beterbiev himself volunteered to help Fury in training camp. And, by the way, such a service could be extremely useful for the British. Indeed, in the course of his amateur career, Artur Beterbiev fought three times against Alexander Usik, who in his youth competed in the same category with him. Two fights were won by a Ukrainian boxer, one by a Russian.

Alexey Dospekhov