The rocky road to undisputed.

[candyslim]

It’s great we now have two rival heavyweight champions who both genuinely believe they have the beating of the other. That removes the biggest obstacle to getting the undisputed showdown.

I have little doubt that Joshua will blow Pulev away. Even Fury-light shook Pulev to his boots with one shot, I was really surprised by that as Hughie is not a puncher. AJ will destroy him which just leaves Usyk blocking the road.

Usyk is emphatic that he wants his shot and will not step aside. They all say that until their resolve gets tested with a real here and now offer as opposed to just a hypothetical concept, but I think Usyk is another who believes himself to be the best in the world and might very well refuse to budge.

Which brings me to my point: What if the WBO aren’t willing to turn their back on their share of the sanctioning fees from the undisputed champion? What if Usyk demands his shot at Joshua but the WBO decline to press the issue. I would imagine they have the right to agree the Fury v Joshua unification whether Usyk is demanding his shot or not.

Of course the WBO had better hope Joshua wins if that were the case. Joshua is very possessive when it comes to his belt collection. He doesn’t want to drop one because then he won’t be truly undisputed by beating Fury. Also Joshua is the goose who lays the golden eggs. Fury cares little for the belts. As far as he’s concerned everyone knows he and Joshua are one and two so who cares what belts are at stake?

Their attitudes are as polarized as it’s possible to get yet both make perfectly good sense. I fervently hope Usyk can be persuaded, or that the WBO decide to give AJ and Fury their blessing in spite of his objections.

[DrDuke]

Of course, if WBO favours the unification instead of giving Usyk a shot, it'll be good, because all this stuff with an undisputed championship sounds cool and so on, but, actually, I don't give much sh1t about this status. Eveyone, who has brain, knows, that Fury-Joshua is a fight to determine the man, be it with 4 straps, 3, 2, 1 or 0.

Boxng history had some really horrible "champions" in the last 25-30 years. Exactly "champions", with quotation marks.

Let best fight best. You are the man, if you beat the best.

Make Fury-Joshua.

[candyslim]

Joshua does care about having the big four belts though. Everyone knows that's the fight as you say but it'll look better in the record book.

When they talk about Lennox being undisputed there is always a remark like "of course back then there were only three belts for undisputed". I'm sure if it can be avoided Joshua would like to avoid such caveats being mentioned in relation to his record/ legacy.

[DrDuke]

Lennox wasn't undisputed on paper for long though. However, he was considered as the man until his retirement. No one gave a damn about the hugbag Ruiz and his WBA.

[AntonioMartin]

Of course, if WBO favours the unification instead of giving Usyk a shot, it'll be good, because all this stuff with an undisputed championship sounds cool and so on, but, actually, I don't give much sh1t about this status. Eveyone, who has brain, knows, that Fury-Joshua is a fight to determine the man, be it with 4 straps, 3, 2, 1 or 0.

Boxng history had some really horrible "champions" in the last 25-30 years. Exactly "champions", with quotation marks.

Make Fury-Joshua.

Yes, yes and yes.

[/quote]
Let best fight best. You are the man, if you beat the best.

[/quote]
Or the woman.

[Enlightened-One]

In terms of the WBO world title, back in September, Eddie Hearn said that he’s asking Usyk to wait until immediately after the Joshua-Fury bout, with AJ possibly vacating the belt the day after the fight (assuming he beats The Gypsy King).

So we could see Oleksandr Usyk facing the winner of the Dubois-Joyce or Parker-Fa bouts for the WBO’s interim world title, with the holder of that belt elevated to full titleholder status the day after the Fury-Joshua super-fight.

Having an undisputed world heavyweight champion for a day is better than not having one at all.

[snake33]

Usyk is not going to going to beat Joshua or Fury, period.
Delaying a unification so Usyk can get a one time payday is ludicrous.
Hey, how about Usyk fight Wilder and the winner of that fight the
winner of Fury vs Joshua. That'd clear everything up.

[margaret thatcher]

well finally we have the undisputed, congrats olek usyk

now that usyk has beaten his biggest rivals to answer that question, the match id like to see most is fury-aj, doesn't matter if no titles are on the line

Usyk is not going to going to beat Joshua or Fury, period.

LOL, i remember you dragging usyk for years. was so overrated, wouldnt make a dent in the hw division, no chance vs aj or fury. couldnt have been more wrong