Oleksandr Usyk has announced that he is vacating his heavyweight titles, as he eyes one final fight before retiring.
Usyk is currently the unified heavyweight champion, holding the WBC, WBA and IBF titles, but he is a former two-time undisputed champion in the division. He is also a former cruiserweight champion.
Yet any time the Ukrainian, 39, has lost a belt, it has been through his own choice; the pound-for-pound star and modern great remains unbeaten as a professional (25-0, 16 KOs), having turned over after an amateur career in which he won Olympic gold.
And it seems that his time fighting is nearing an end. It was thought that he could fight two more times, but Usyk announced on Friday that he intends to compete just once more.
The news follows his fight with kickboxing icon Rico Verhoeven in May, when Usyk scored a controversial stoppage win at the Pyramids of Giza – with the scorecards also proving divisive, although they were not needed in the end.
The result saw Usyk retain the WBC heavyweight belt, which he was putting on the line in a voluntary defence, and his next move was expected to be a mandatory defence against Agit Kabayel.
However, the unbeaten German will seemingly not be next for Usyk, who is also unlikely to ever cross paths with young British star Moses Itauma.
“This is a well-considered decision that I am confident will open new opportunities for me,” Usyk wrote on Instagram. “This is not the end of the story. The continuation lies ahead.”
The caption accompanied a video in which the southpaw declared, “It’s a good day to say: I want to vacate all the belts I currently hold. I want to make them available so the guys who are next in line can fight for them.
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“Friends, I’m leaving the belts, but I’m not leaving the sport, because I still have my last dance.
“I want to thank everyone. I have great respect for all organisations [governing bodies]. I want to thank everyone and say: there’s more to come. Glory to God for everything. Glory to Ukraine.”
Usyk’s highest-profile wins have all come against British boxers. He twice outpointed Anthony Joshua, twice outpointed Tyson Fury, and twice stopped Daniel Dubois – all in heavyweight title fights, despite being the naturally-smaller man.
Fury has long made clear his desire for a trilogy bout with the Ukrainian, although the “Gypsy King” is currently eyeing a warm-up fight for his long-awaited clash with Joshua, who trained with Usyk in Kyiv earlier this year. Therefore, Fury’s plan likely takes a third fight with Usyk off the table.
