The consequences of Oleksandr Usyk’s seismic decision: scattered belts, a year of shuffling… and exceptional fights

Oleksandr Usyk has added his name to a long list of heavyweight world champions who have walked away from the championship.

Usyk insists that he will continue to fight, but over the weekend he relinquished his WBC, WBA and IBF versions of the title, and now there is a glorious scramble to get fights sanctioned for the three belts. At the time of Usyk’s announcement, there were men holding the interim, the regular and mandatory positions across the three sanctioning bodies.

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