Fury: “Usyk Should Vacate WBC Title”

Former unified Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury explained why, in his opinion, reigning WBC, WBA, and IBF Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk should leave the WBC belt vacant.

“I saw that the WBC sanctioned an eliminator between Okolie and Itauma, but the interim champion is Agit. So yeah, they have to force Usyk to either defend the title or vacate it.

Personally, I don't think that Usyk will fight anyone from the WBC rankings, because it makes no commercial sense. There is no money in those fights. Will they pay him for a fight with Agit Kabayel? Will they pay him for a fight with Lawrence Okolie? No. When you've fought Tyson Fury and got the money, you're not going to fight someone else just for the sake of it. So I don't see options for Usyk to defend the title against any of those names. That's why he wants to fight Wilder or someone with a popular name who has fans. So I think he will vacate the WBC title, like he did with the WBO belt. He should vacate the WBC title. And Agit will become world champion, and then he can defend it against the winner of the fight between Okolie and Itauma.

I don't see this fight ever happening between Usyk and Kabayel. It makes no commercial sense. And boxing is a business, don't forget. And we are all here to get [paid] and get out. That's the essence. Winning a world title is fantastic. And you need to win world titles to get money. But at the level where Usyk is now, you want the hardest fights for the biggest amounts of money.

You want to get the money and get out of there. You don't want to fight in the hardest fights without money, do you? Agit is a tough fight for anyone,” said Fury.

Previously, Usyk vacated the WBO Heavyweight belt due to a lack of desire at this stage to meet mandatory challenger Fabio Wardley. Afterward, the Briton was elevated from interim champion to full champion status.