Oleksandr Usyk Files For Exception To IBF Mandatory Defense Versus Filip Hrgovic

Oleksandr Usyk has taken a first step—and perhaps a last gasp—to keep his undisputed heavyweight championship reign intact.

The Ring has confirmed that the unbeaten two-division champ has filed an exception to avoid being stripped of the IBF title. The request to delay his overdue mandatory title defense comes six days after Usyk defeated Tyson Fury via split decision to fully unify all the heavyweight titles. Fury’s representatives confirmed plans to enforce a rematch clause.

It also comes eight days ahead of a clash involving the next contender in line for the title. Mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic and England’s Daniel Dubois collide on June 1 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The same venue housed Usyk’s historic win to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the 21st century.

Ukraine’s Usyk (22-0, 14 knockouts) entered his RING/undisputed clash versus Fury knowing that a decision would immediately follow regarding his IBF mandatory defense.

Croatia’s Hrgovic has been the IBF’s top heavyweight contender since an August 2022 win over Zhilei Zhang. The Ring’s No. 6-rated heavyweight has fought just twice since then, largely due the mandatory challenger rotation system for unified titlists. There was also an issue in finding willing opposition even with an interim IBF title at stake.

It was widely speculated immediately after Usyk’s May 18 win that his undisputed reign would last less than two weeks. The strong suggestion was that the belt would be available for Hrgovic-Dubois. The heavyweight clash is part of the June 1 Matchroom vs. Queensberry 5-v-5 tournament.

That matter is now in the hands of the IBF. A decision will be made prior to Hrgovic-Dubois, but not much sooner as the request was only received on Friday.

The threat of an immediately splintered reign surfaced once Usyk and Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) agreed to terms for the fight. It was further complicated when their originally scheduled Feb. 17 date was postponed by three months. Fury suffered a cut during sparring, which pushed back the historic championship showdown.

Usyk won the WBA, IBF and WBO titles in a Sept. 2021 points win over Anthony Joshua (27-3, 24 KOs) in North London. Usyk repeated the feat, this time via split decision in their Aug. 2022 rematch. That same show included Hrgovic’s win over Zhang to become the mandatory challenger.

The one-fight-a-year approach to Usyk’s career since moving up to heavyweight has contributed to the current dilemma. Hrgovic was forced to wait out Usyk’s ordered WBA title consolidation bout versus Dubois due to the rotation system. Usyk won that fight via ninth-round knockout last Aug. 26 in Wroclaw, Poland.

By that point, Saudi advisor Turki Alalshikh unveiled his plans for major boxing events in his kingdom. The first show of Riyadh Season 2023 saw Fury barely outlast Francis Ngannou to win a ten-round decision in their non-title fight last Oct. 28 in Riyadh. Fury then agreed to risk his WBC belt versus Usyk, though it was no mystery that the winner would have to deal with the long-stalled IBF situation.

The post-fight press conference addressed the topic of an immediate rematch. Fury gave a typical wide-ranging response but his team ultimately informed Usyk of their plans to run it back.

In turn, Usyk has now made the effort to ensure the same exact stakes are in place for their second act. Even one less belt on the line wouldn’t change the significance. Usyk is The Ring champion and the universally regarded heavyweight king.

That said, The Ring has learned one of two scenarios to play out ahead of Hrgovic-Dubois.

There still exists the possibility of the full title becoming available by next weekend. The other option would be for the IBF to make available an interim title. The winner would be guaranteed—on paper, anyway—an immediate shot at the Usyk-Fury II victor.

Usyk’s win over Fury carried additional honors. The 37-year-old southpaw claimed the top spot in The Ring pound-for-pound rankings.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for The Ring and vice president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

Follow @JakeNDaBox