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On Tuesday, June 25, Oleksandr Usyk announced that he is vacating the IBF Heavyweight Championship after defeating Tyson Fury on points to become the undisputed champion last month. With that, the IBF Heavyweight Championship will be on the line when Anthony Joshua takes on Daniel Dubois on September 21, at the Wembley Stadium in London.
Notably, Oleksandr Usyk won the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF titles after getting the better of Tyson Fury by a split decision at the Ring of Fire event on May 18. The judges ' scorecard read 115-112, 113-114, 114-113 in favour of Usyk against Fury in the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
“Hey Anthony Joshua, Daniel Dubois, the IBF belt is my present for you for 21.09.2024. The world loves strong. Your friend, Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World, Oleksandr Usyk,” he said on his official Instagram account.
Here is the announcement from Oleksandr Usyk about his IBF Heavyweight Championship:
Daniel Dubois, who had already lost to Oleksandr Usyk last year, holds the interim IBF Heavyweight Championship, and he would have been a mandatory challenger for the title. But Usyk is already set for a contractual rematch against Fury, which will go down on December 21, and it would have been a reason for him to vacate the IBF Heavyweight Championship.
Notably, as per the report from ESPN, the Joshua-Dubois match will be formally announced very soon, and it will be a part of the first Riyadh Season event in the United Kingdom. The first event of its kind outside Saudi Arabia will go down on August 3, when Terence Crawford takes on Israil Madrimov at the BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, the USA, for the WBA Light Middleweight Championship.
