Official IBF Statement:
On Tuesday, June 25, 2024 IBF President Daryl Peoples received notification that Oleksandr Usyk was relinquishing his IBF world heavyweight title. Usyk conveyed his gratitude to the IBF, especially for having the opportunity to become the undisputed champion in two weight divisions. The IBF was honored to have Oleksandr Usyk as its champion and wishes him continued success.
Daniel Dubois, former IBF interim world heavyweight champion, was sent notice on June 26 that he is recognized as the organization’s world heavyweight champion effective immediately. The IBF has received the request for Dubois’ first defense of the heavyweight title to be against Anthony Joshua.
Nothing like confusing the public to create fan interest.
Wow I thought AJ and Dubois would “fight” for the vacant title instead of handing the title to Dubois without facing AJ.
Say what you will about the circumstances regarding the title — Usyk is THE Heavyweight Champion of The World and he’s gone 3-0 against these two guys — but Dubois – AJ is a helluva fight imo.
To be honest, Dubois should’ve been The Undisputed Champ fighting Fury not Usyk…. Dubois beat Usyk with that body shot & Usyk wit his bitch ass went down like it was a low blow.. That dude couldn’t breath & was sucking for air. Not one time did he reach down to cover his sack like guys do when hit below the belt. Go back & watch that fight. That shot was no where close to a low blow!!! THE UNCROWNED CHAMP!!!!!
Good fight, look forward to Joshua vs Dubois. But just can’t stomach this “named” as champion shyte. They should have announced that this fight is for the IBF heavyweight championship. Win the championship in the ring.
While Ken Norton was a fine heavyweight of the 70s, he also had the stigma of being a heavyweight champion who never won title fight.
Could this be the future of Dubois?
Thats not what Ken Norton is remembered for. He did a lot in the ring to build his legacy.
Same with Dubois, he’s earned the spot and will still need to fight and win to build his own legacy.
Daryl Peoples,
Please, make this the last “recognized” champ. This is ridiculous. Titles should be won in the ring, and not in an email. You have to feel weird handing the title to someone that didn’t take a punch for it…DD was probably sitting on the couch when you decided that he “won” the title. This has to stop. The weird feeling that you felt when sending this notice, has to be 100 times greater for DD when he has to tell his family/friends how he “won” the title. Kind of embarrassing for a “champion”, to say that he won the title in an email. Why do I have to be questioning you with this? You are a professional organization, and you are adding to the confusion of the titles when you hand a title out to someone that didn’t take a punch. Please, make this the last paper champ.
Paper Champ? Dubois, is the real champ. He beat Usyk with that body shot. The whole world seen. They didn’t want to mess the money up with Fury/Usyk. Go back & watch the fight.
And imagine if he gets beat by Joshua.
That would sting.
Not sure why or how he became champion without winning the title in a fight, either.
Just another Ken Norton, circa 1978.
Speaking of, stylistically, Dubious vs Norton would have been a war.
After receiving this e-mail could he then be subject to an immediate drug test and possibly be stripped? LOL! VADA could show up at this house with the belt and the needles! If he is not there when they show would he be declared a “champion in recess?”
I know I am having way too much fun with this!!!
It is time for a fundraising effort to have ALL THE SANCTIONING BODIES closed down!!!
You can send your money to my GoFundMe page.
Why not, he already knocked out Usyk with a legit body shot that the ref took away from him.
@DS low blow denier. You don’t know boxing kid. Maybe the link will appear, maybe not, but you should learn the rules as to why it was a low blow. Maybe you’ll sleep better at night. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LpBieiD6qDw
Thank you DS!!!! Finally, someone who knows boxing!!! Dubois is the UNCROWNED UNDISPUTED CHAMP!!! Usyk/Fury should’ve never happened.. Politics fucking the sport up!!!!
What a joke!
Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the next Ken Norton.
This makes the IBF a total joke. Without question, Usyk is the man at heavyweight. How can you believe you’re championship when given the title this way? And he’s gonna lose to AJ in his first “defense.”
Think Joshua will easily defeat Dubois,, setting up a fight with Anderson maybe
Dubois is on Fire. I might bet on him
Look at how many belts dubois has accumulated in his career, impressive!!
Is that what they call an e-mail champion?
Sounds like Price Is Right.
“You just won a heavyweight title! Come on down!”
It changes daily. I thought they were going to fight for the title now its being handed to DuBois.
Stuff like this makes me hope Turki Alalshikh does buy up all the boxing promotions and make it into one league. From what I’ve seen from the Saudis so far, I like it. The best will have to fight the best. I’m sure they’ll get rid of the extra belts and have one belt per division. I guess that is why some like Tank Davis was so outspoken against the idea. He will no longer be a nearly 30 year old prospect. He will have to see Lomachenko.
People on here must not follow boxing. Filip Hrgovic had waited around a long time as the IBF mandatory challenger. Instead of scuttling the Usyk-Fury undisputed title fight, they let Hrgovic fight for the interim belt against Dubois; with the understanding the winners would fight each other. Dubois won the fight, became interim champion, and now is elevated to full champion since Usyk decided to vacate. This isn’t an email belt. He fought and beat Hrgovic who the entire top 15 of the IBF avoided to land the mandatory position. I don’t like the titles being broken up, but Usyk made that choice instead of waiting for the IBF decision on a 2nd fight with Fury.
I stand corrected, thank you for that.
Ok, so now we have to accept a champ-in-the-wings (interim), in this situation. This is not a new phenomena. Either way, it is a side effect of the sanctioning org’s not recognizing one champ, one weight class, at a time. With the Interim Champs, the Super Champs, the Gold Champs, Champs in recess, etc, it all adds to confusion we call boxing. It’s no wonder we can’t get the sport back to mainstream. There shouldn’t have to be an explanation as to who is, and who isn’t a champ in the IBF, WBC, WBA, WBO. As it is, we have a possibility of 4 champs per weight division, so we already start at the point of confusion. We all know the problem is greed, coming from the ranking org’s, and wanting to pile up as many sanctioning fees as possible for their organizations to survive. The belt confusion is a side effect of the desperate fight for survival by the WB’s, and IBF. Maybe we, the boxers, the promoters, should let one, or two of these organizations die on the vine, and stop working with them. Not sure why we need (4) organizations pretending to rule the sport. I don’t see the NBA with NBAC, NBAO, NBAA, or IBFNBA, etc. That would be confusing, right?!?!
I agree with that, some might say the new Saudi-organized fight system might do that. Others have proposed using The RING ratings and having an unbiased panel on their ratings board. I do concede the 4 major sanctioning organizations have done some good, such as stepping in to do mandatory drug testing(in and out of competition) when local/national commissions refuse to. They require that of their ranked fighters. Some even have an injured boxer fund for disabled fighters. These are things the sanctioning fees pay for. If you can’t get rid of them, maybe the 4 could divvy up the 6 continents and regulate each area. All 4 could combine into one organization, with one champ, one ratings committee, one system, but they could all maintain their operations regulating certain continents…regional belts, etc. If someone wins a North American belt, for instance, they get a worldwide ranking in the top 15. And remember, the UFC has its own problems. They have disputes with fighters over pay and there are competing organizations(Bellator, etc).
Saudis have enough money to get rid of all of them. Why would they want to keep any members of these corrupt and incompetent organizations?
I like the ideas. It’s doubtful any of the sanctioning bodies would voluntarily close up shop for the betterment of boxing, so making them all work together as (1) unified org. might be the only way to unify them, the titles, testing, etc. I also don’t think they’d join up for the betterment of boxing. The only way that they’d join up, is if their existence was in question due to the Saudi ‘takeover’ chatter. Then it would be a Unified (wba, wbc, wbo, ibf) vs. Saudi’s, and the unified would lose because they have nothing to offer but belts. The boxer is driven by purses, not belts.
Stop defending the indefensible. Hrgovic had no business being no 1, which was proven by Dubois’ battering of him. The needless introduction of interim belts by the sanctioning bodies was another money grab that has resulted in more confusion and yety more undeserving champions. The Saudis should ban IBF champs from their lucrative events. Freeze them out I say.
I feel Zhilei Zhang should be fighting for vacated IBF belt. Dubois is too east to hit but is fun too watch. Zhang is going to older than Foreman was against Moorer when he gets a title shot…
Fred box why isn’t done the way when it used to be if the title is vacated number #1and#2 fight for it why make someone Champion without fighting for it explain
More alphabet embarrassment. See you all in 2049 for the next undisputed heavyweight champion, lads.
Uggh, let’s hope that’s not the case…
There’s nothing left for Usyk to do in boxing. A rematch with Fury won be any different in terms of Usyk winning. He could fight for the “bridgerweight” belt and become a “3 time champ” and retire. I would throw all three belts in the recycling bin and call it a career. Let the leftovers have at it in a tournament, which will give us some good scraps.