‘There is no mandatory contender’: Maurcio Sulaiman says Tyson Fury free of obligation

By now we’re all aware that WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is set to make his next appearance in an exhibition bout against Francis Ngannou, but for some reason he’s still been able to hold on to his world title without defending it against a worthy challenger.

Well, as WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman explains to gambling.com, as captured by DAZN, Fury has no mandatory obligation, which frees him up to do these fun little side quests.

“Tyson Fury is the WBC heavyweight champion. He has been willing, able, and trying to fight Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua, Andy Ruiz Jr or anyone (available) and has not been able to land the fight that the fans would like to see,” Sulaiman said.

Suliman continued on by saying that instead of just waiting around for those fights to happen, he’s instead taking part in this Saudi Arabian event, which he believes will be quite entertaining.

So after taking a few more moments to defend Fury and his inability to secure another big time heavyweight, Sulaiman says he’s be doing the sport of boxing a disservice by enforcing a mandatory challenger just for the sake of it. And because his organization ordered a final eliminator bout between Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz that never came together, that leaves Fury in the clear.

“They (Wilder and Ruiz) are not participating in it so there is no mandatory contender. Fury is the best heavyweight without a doubt. We would like to see Fury vs Usyk so we will not interfere in the plans to have a major showdown for all the belts so there is no hurry to find a mandatory contender and we will see what happens at the WBC convention.”

Fury last appeared in a fight last December, when he stopped Derek Chisora in ten rounds of action. He won’t be in another legitimate boxing match until at least 2024.