IBF deadline extended for Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk
Alex Krassyuk, promoter of Oleksandr Usyk, has provided detail on whether the rescheduled clash between his fighter and Tyson Fury will still be for the undisputed title, after rumours that the IBF title will need to be either defended or vacated in the coming weeks.
Many fans and pundits suspected that the winner of Fury-Usyk would vacate the IBF belt, with the turnaround for a fight before the deadline against mandatory challenger, Filip Hrgovic, both too strenuous and unrealistic, given the magnitude of the historic bout that will crown a first four-belt heavyweight champion.
However, when Fury’s cut caused a delay in the undisputed bout, pushing the fight date back behind the IBF deadline, many feared that their battle would no longer be for the undisputed title or that Usyk would need to defend his belts against Hrgovic in the interim.
Instead, Krassyuk has cleared up the situation in an interview with Boxing News, revealing that this situation was accounted for in the original negotiations.
“The IBF has been extending its mandatory for so long to make this undisputed fight, that at some point it will be impossible to move them. So, there was a kind of agreement that the IBF will allow a 90-day extension in case of an injury, which actually occurred. That is why May 18th is the date, I would say that this is the reason.
“Probably the end of the year would be better, but then we would have to get rid of the IBF [mandatory or title]. So fighting Hrgovic would have been a nice option, but you never know how the fight will go and who will win. The Saudi’s didn’t want to take that risk, so they rescheduled it for May 18th.”
The fight date does seem a little soon, particularly for the wounded Tyson Fury, but all questions will be answered when the two champions meet in three months’ time, with no excuses holding any value.