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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff Writer
Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is making plans for his next fight.
On Thursday, Usyk’s promoter won the purse bid for his mandatory WBA title defense against Daniel Dubois. K2 Promotion’s Alex Krassyuk said the plan is for Usyk to face the WBA’s top contender on Aug. 12 in Warsaw, Poland.
Usyk’s camp earned the promotional rights to the bout with a winning bid of $8.06 million, according to ESPN boxing insider Mike Coppinger.
Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) holds three of the four major belts in boxing’s highest weight class. He is ESPN’s No. 2-ranked heavyweight, trailing only Tyson Fury, who holds the WBC belt.
The move forward to face Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) indicates that any potential undisputed heavyweight fight between Usyk and Fury will have to wait until this fall at the absolute earliest. Both champions have publicly squabbled over failed negotiations regarding the potential bout. Usyk conceded a 70-30 split in Fury’s favor, going as far as nicknaming Fury “Greedy Belly” in video barbs released on social media. But stipulations surrounding a rematch clause played a role in the talks collapsing.
While Fury is the lineal heavyweight champion, Fury is ranked higher on ESPN’s men’s pound-for-pound rankings. Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, is slotted third while Fury is seventh.
Usyk is coming off back-to-back victories over Anthony Joshua to win three-fourths of the share of the heavyweight title.
