Oleksandr Usyk had ‘agreement in principle’ with Fabio Wardley before pulling the plug

Fabio Wardley’s manager, Michael Ofo, claims an ‘agreement in principle’ was reached with Oleksandr Usyk before the Ukrainian ‘backed out’.

Wardley punched his ticket for a fight with Usyk when he snatched the WBO interim belt from Joseph Parker via a dramatic 11th-round stoppage victory last month.

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Before the fight, the WBO had ordered Usyk to defend his red and gold strap against the winner.

Team Usyk began preliminary discussions with the respective camps, and everything appeared to be moving in the right direction until, out of nowhere, Usyk relinquished his title.

The abrupt decision came two weeks after Wardley’s triumph, resulting in the Brit, rather anticlimactically, being elevated to full world champion via email.

It came as quite a shock to Ofo, who was confident Usyk would fulfil his mandatory obligation, especially after they agreed to all ‘The Cat’s’ demands.

“Before the fight, Usyk’s team put an offer out there,” Platform Sport CEO, Ofo, told talkSPORT.com.

“I won’t go into too much detail, but we agreed to everything in principle. I don’t believe Parker’s team did.

“All of the terms they wanted, we agreed to them, and then they backed out…

“To be honest, I thought that Usyk was going to take the fight.

“I thought he was the type of champion who doesn’t duck challenges.”

Why did Oleksandr Usyk vacate his title?

With no clear opportunities on the horizon for Usyk, Wardley and Co. were left scratching their heads at the decision.

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Usyk’s adviser, Sergey Lapin, declared that his client had vacated the belt “to give young boxers a chance to fight for it”.

But Ofo isn’t buying that explanation.

“It’s funny now that Wardley has won, it’s all about giving young fighters a chance,” added Ofo.

“Don’t act like you have done Fabio a favour, you have robbed him of an opportunity.

“When has anyone ever cared about anyone else? This is a selfish sport.

“Each fighter cares about themselves and their own development.

“And if he has got another opportunity, let us know who he is fighting.

“He’s not fighting Anthony Joshua, he’s not fighting Daniel Dubois, he’s not fighting Agit Kabayel, he’s not fighting Tyson Fury fight now, so who is it?

“If it was about young fighters, why didn’t he give it up before the fight with Parker?

“He probably thought that Parker would be an easier option, and if Parker had won, he would have defended.

“But from the attributes he saw in Fabio, he must have thought, ‘Oh, I don’t fancy this’.

“As far as I am concerned, he ducked the fight.”