Boxing
WBO orders Usyk to fight Parker in mandatory title defence
The World Boxing Organisation ordered Ukraine’s world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to open talks with Joseph Parker on Thursday for a mandatory title defence.
Previously undisputed champion Usyk, 38, holds the WBC, WBA and WBO belts after two successive wins over Britain’s Tyson Fury.
New Zealand’s Parker was WBO champion from 2016 to 2018, when he was beaten by Anthony Joshua on a 12-round unanimous decision. The Briton then lost the belt to Usyk in London in September 2021.
Now 33, Parker stopped Congolese replacement Martin Bakole in two rounds in a fight for the WBO Interim belt in Riyadh last month.
The WBO ordered fight negotiations in an email to both boxers’ management, Alex Krassyuk of Team Usyk and Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions, published on the boxing body’s website, opens new tab.
“The parties have 30 days to reach terms. Failure to do so will result in this committee ordering purse bid proceedings in accordance with WBO regulations of world championship contests,” it added.
Britain’s IBF champion Daniel Dubois, who withdrew from a fight with Parker in February due to illness, has also been in talks with Usyk for the undisputed title and is also represented by Warren.
“We are now working on this fight, Wembley as one of the options,” Krassyuk told Sky Sports television on Wednesday.
The WBO’s email, from chairman Luis Batista Salas, was dated March 13.
Dubois lost to the undefeated Usyk in Poland in 2023 but took the IBF belt after the Ukrainian vacated it last year after his first victory over Fury.
-Reuters
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American Claressa Shields was crowned boxing’s first undisputed world champion in three weight classes on Sunday after beating compatriot Danielle Perkins for the women’s heavyweight title by unanimous decision in front of a home crowd in Flint, Michigan.
Shields, who also won gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, landed a powerful right hand with seconds to go in the 10th and final round, knocking down Perkins and improving her professional career record to 16-0.
The win makes 29-year-old Shields an undisputed champion in a third weight class, adding to her undisputed titles in the middleweight and light-middleweight divisions.
She is the only boxer, man or woman, to achieve the feat.
“It feels unbelievable, to be honest. I had a really hard training camp. And just last Friday, I tore my labrum in my left shoulder, so I wasn’t able to use my good jab today,” Shields said.
“But I didn’t want to call the fight off because I had asked God to give me a big fight in my hometown. He did that. So I decided to keep going through with it.
“I feel so happy. And shout out to my opponent, Danielle Perkins. Man, that girl was strong as hell.”
-Reuters
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This Monday afternoon, Tyson Fury announced his retirement from boxing for the third time in a fresh bombshell statement.
He announced in a short video which he posted on social media on Monday afternoon.
“Hi everybody, I’m going to make this short and sweet,” he said to the camera. “I’d like to announce my retirement from boxing.
“It’s been a blast, I’ve loved every single minute of it. I’m going to end with this. Dick Turpin wore a mask. God bless everybody, see you on the other side. Get up!”
Last month, he lost his rematch for the WBA (Super), WBO and WBC world heavyweight titles against Oleksandr Usyk.
The 36-year-old Briton had earlier announced his retirement after beating Dillian Whyte in 2022 but returned six months later. He had also announced retirements in 2013 and 2017 on social media, but both were short-lived.
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Anthony Joshua’s hope of facing Tyson Fury in an anticipated bout may have gone up in flames. The 35-year-old boxer on a recent trip to Nigeria had told President Tinubu that Fury was his next ‘target’.
He explained during a trip to meet the Nigerian President: “In 2025, I am targeting Tyson Fury.”
The fight had long been anticipated. But it is no longer on the cards.
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