{"id":27852,"date":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27852"},"modified":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T03:04:05","slug":"usyk-vacates-wbo-heavyweight-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=27852","title":{"rendered":"Usyk vacates WBO heavyweight title"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Oleksandr Usyk has relinquished his WBO heavyweight title after informing the governing body he would not proceed with a mandatory defence against Britain\u2019s Fabio Wardley, the World Boxing Organization said on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The WBO said it received \u201cformal communication\u201d from the Ukrainian\u2019s team and confirmed the 38-year-old had \u201celected to relinquish the title after thoughtful consideration.\u201d Wardley, 30, is expected to be elevated to WBO heavyweight champion following Usyk\u2019s decision, according to Sky Sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Usyk holds the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles, having regained the latter belt in December when he stopped Britain\u2019s Daniel Dubois to restore his undisputed status.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He first became four-belt undisputed champion in May 2024 by beating Tyson Fury, before vacating the IBF crown the following month due to mandatory obligations linked to a rematch. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri paid tribute to Usyk in an emotional statement, calling him \u201ca champion of champions\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe WBO extends its profound respect, admiration, and gratitude to Oleksandr Usyk, an undefeated, two-division WBO undisputed world champion,\u201d Olivieri said. \u201cHis career stands as one of the most extraordinary and historic of the modern boxing era.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The WBO added that Usyk had exemplified \u201cevery right, privilege and honour associated with the WBO Super Champion distinction. \u201cWe accept and respect his decision to relinquish the WBO heavyweight super championship,\u201d it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not a farewell but &#8211; as expressed by his team &#8211; a respectful pause. The doors of the WBO will always remain open to Oleksandr Usyk and his team.\u201d Usyk won the WBO belt in 2021 when he defeated Anthony Joshua, later adding the WBC title by beating Fury.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He defended the WBO crown four times during his reign. In July, the WBO ordered negotiations for a mandatory defence against its interim champion Joseph Parker, giving both camps 30 days to reach a deal before a purse bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Parker, who won the interim title last year against Zhilei Zhang and retained it in February by stopping Martin Bakole, remained the organisation\u2019s official challenger at the time.\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oleksandr Usyk has relinquished his WBO heavyweight title after informing the governing body he would not proceed with a mandatory defence against Britain\u2019s Fabio Wardley, the World Boxing Organization said on Monday.\u00a0 The WBO said it received \u201cformal communication\u201d from the Ukrainian\u2019s team and confirmed the 38-year-old had \u201celected to relinquish the title after thoughtful [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}