Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk features rematch clause, but IBF title would be stripped

Mike Coppinger reports that, as is standard for superfights in this day and age, Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk features a two-way rematch clause.

You’ll recall that said rematch clause sank Fury-Usyk the first time around, as the two sides butted heads over who would be the financial A-side. Coppinger’s article doesn’t go into details of how they hashed that out, though it does name December 23rd as a target date.

The interesting tidbit comes later.

The IBF sent a letter to involved parties last week that stipulated the winner of Fury-Usyk must make a mandatory defense with no intervening bouts, and that the organization will not grant exceptions.

That means if an immediate rematch takes place, the IBF title won’t be on the line. In that instance, Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic will fight the next available contender for the vacant IBF title.

Like the WBO electing to strip Jermell Charlo after the opening bell of last Saturday’s loss to Canelo Alvarez, this is the correct decision. Whether or not you agree with the decision in Hrgovic’s eliminator against Zhilei Zhang, he’s been the mandatory for almost 14 months. We’ve already seen the heavyweight division ground to a halt by endless rematches recently and, much like many of said rematches, we don’t need to see it again