What happens to Oleksandr Usyk’s vacant belts? Moses Itauma among those who could benefit

Oleksandr Usyk’s decision to relinquish his WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles has sent the division into a state of flux.

The future first ballot Hall of Famer announced on Friday that he would be giving away his belts as he prepares for ‘one last dance’.

Usyk’s farewell fight is expected to be a rematch with kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven, whom he defeated in May via a contentious 11th-round stoppage.

The first signs of physical decline were on full display that night, with Usyk looking every one of his 39 years as he was pulled into a life-and-death battle.

Before the Verhoeven fight, Usyk had dominated the glamour division for the best part of six years, achieving undisputed supremacy twice at the weight.

His imminent departure opens the door for the next generation of heavyweights to vie for his throne and leaves three of the four major sanctioning bodies with decisions to make.

WBA

The most straightforward of those choices lies with the WBA, which already has a secondary ‘regular’ heavyweight champion in Murat Gassiev.

It is common practice for the ‘regular’ titlist to immediately be elevated to ‘super’ champion if the full world title becomes vacant.

A recent example of this is Armando Resendiz being upgraded by the WBA at super-middleweight following Terence Crawford’s retirement at the back end of last year.

If Gassiev is elevated, then he will join Evander Holyfield, David Haye and Usyk as the only boxers to have won world titles at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.

The heavy-handed Russian previously held the WBA and IBF cruiserweight belts before they were snatched away from him by Usyk in 2018 in the World Boxing Super Series final.

WBC

A similar scenario to the WBA is expected to play out with the WBC, which had ordered Usyk to defend against interim champion Agit Kabayel.

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Both parties had until June 30 to strike a deal before a purse bid was to be called, but that is now void, with Kabayel expected to immediately succeed Usyk.

This should be a foregone conclusion, but the WBC hasn’t always elevated interim champions.

Christian Mbilli was initially ordered to face Hamzah Sheeraz for the vacant WBC super-middleweight title after Crawford was stripped for non-payment of sanctioning fees.

It wasn’t until Sheeraz opted to instead face Alem Begic for the WBO belt that Mbilli was eventually upgraded from interim to full world champion.

IBF

The IBF doesn’t currently have an interim champion at heavyweight, but Frank Sanchez is the No.1-ranked contender, and so, as per the organisation’s rules, will make up one half of a vacant world title fight.

The No. 2 slot is currently unoccupied, while No.3-ranked Moses Itauma and No.4-ranked Filip Hrgovic are set to square off on August 29.

This bout will likely be made into an eliminator to determine who will face Sanchez for the IBF belt.

Boxing schedule

For all the upcoming fights and results this year, check out talkSPORT.com’s  boxing schedule.