Oleksandr Usyk’s advisor lifts lid on why Ukrainian vacated world title that Fabio Wardley picked up

Oleksandr Usyk’s advisor, Sergey Lapin, has finally addressed his client’s decision to relinquish his WBO heavyweight title.

The Ukrainian slickster was ordered to defend his red and gold strap against Fabio Wardley, after the Ipswich puncher snatched the major sanctioning body’s interim belt from Joseph Parker last month with a dramatic 11th-round stoppage.

However, two weeks later, the WBO were informed of Usyk’s plans to go another route.

As a result, Wardley was, rather anticlimactically, elevated to full world champion via email.

Baffled by Usyk’s decision, Wardley admitted that he was unsure as to why ‘The Cat’ had vacated the belt.

Attempting to shed some light on the situation, Lapin told Ready to Fight: “Oleksandr vacated the belt to give young boxers a chance to fight for it.

“Let’s see how everything develops from here.

“Fabio Wardley vs Moses Itauma would be a wonderful fight for both, and it would be very interesting to see who comes out on top.”

Who could Fabio Wardley fight next?

At the time of writing, Wardley is without a mandatory challenger, although Moses Itauma is ranked No.1 by the WBO.

If they were to be matched against each other, it would leave their joint trainer Ben Davison in an awkward position.

Davison has previously stated that he would be adamantly against his students squaring off against each other.

But with the allure of a world title on the line, the opportunity may be too good to resist if it presents itself.

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Wardley himself has always insisted that he would only fight his training partner if there was a belt up for grabs.

“Who knows how the future’s going to go? Right now me and Moses, we’re both on our own courses,” Wardley told Sky Sports News.

“We both need to grab our world titles first, before we’re able to have some conversations, maybe about crossing swords ourselves.

“But there’s enough out there right now for the pair of us to have a go at and just occupy ourselves with before we need to start having a serious think about us maybe getting in the ring at the same time.”

Where does Oleksandr Usyk go from here?

While Wardley is expected to defend his belt in the first quarter of 2026, Usyk’s next steps are less clear.

He still holds the WBA, WBC and IBF titles and will likely be ordered to defend them against his respective mandatories.

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At present, Derek Chisora is the IBF mandatory, Agit Kabayel is the WBC interim champion, while Itauma is ranked No.1 by the WBA.

There is always the possibility that Usyk could take a lucrative trilogy with Tyson Fury, who has teased a return next year.

While hardcore boxing fans will turn their noses up at the possibility, there is still undoubtedly money to be made there.