Frank Warren has revealed that a fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is ‘being planned for early next year’.
The Queensberry boxing promoter, also insisted that a rematch between Usyk and Daniel Dubois would ‘not scupper plans for a heavyweight championship unification fight’ between the Ukrainian and the Gypsy King.
Dubois was controversially beaten on Saturday after being stopped in the ninth round by the WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion.
During the fifth round, the British fighter had knocked the Ukrainian to the ground with a punch that divided the boxing community.
The 25-year-old struck Usyk with a hard right hand to the lower-abdomen, which prompted the referee to halt the match and give the heavyweight champion a time-out to recover, deeming the shot to be below the belt.
Promoter Frank Warren has revealed there are plans to stage an undisputed fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury after the former defeated Daniel Dubois
However, he insists Dubois’ team will appeal the result, which he says should be declared a no contest after the Brit floored him with a shot that was controversially ruled as a low blow
Many, including Warren, who represents Dubois and Fury, spoke out against the decision, claiming that it was a fair punch, while others, including Liam Smith and Tony Bellew disagreed online claiming that it was below the belt.
After the fight, Dubois himself claimed that he had been ‘cheated’, while Warren demanded a rematch claiming on TNT Sport: ‘The governing bodies will have to look at that and order a rematch.’
And he’s double downed on that statement today, with the Queensberry promoter admitting that his team would be asking for a rematch on talkSPORT this morning.
He was also asked whether that rematch, if it goes ahead, would scupper any plans for a heavyweight title unification bout between Usyk and Fury, who holds the WBC heavyweight belt.
Warren responded: ‘Well no really because that fight [between Fury and Usyk], we were talking about doing that fight early next year and that is still the plan.
‘The plan was that the winner of the fight on Saturday was to fight Tyson [Fury] early next year. So that won’t go on before then.
Fury (L) is the holder of the WBC title belt, while Usyk (R) holds the WBO, WBA and IBF belts
‘Because of what the bigger picture is, you can’t just cast aside Daniel’s situation. He was unfairly treated there.’
Warren added that he would be presenting evidence to the WBA to try to convince them to declare Saturday’s fight a ‘no contest’.
‘Although all the belts were on the line in the fight, it was the WBA’s turn as far as their mandatory is concerned, so what we’ll do, is we’ll collate our photographic and video evidence and present it to them and present what was said at the rules meeting determining what were legal and what were illegal blows and they’ll have to make a decision,’ Warren added.
‘I’d like them to declare it a no contest because Daniel should be now having those three belts around his waist, but if we can get it to a rematch then that’s where we’ll get to.’
‘I don’t blame Alex [Krassyuk – Usyk’s promoter] for what he’s saying, because they don’t want us asking for a rematch, but we’re going to.
‘Usyk, I’ve got a lot of respect for him, he was a tremendous cruiserweight and he’s been a really good heavyweight, but he does have previous for complaining about low-blows, he done it against Anthony Joshua in their fights.’
But earlier this afternoon, Krassyuk has spoken out against Warren’s calls for a ‘no decision’ telling Sky Sports that Dubois has ‘zero per cent or negative probability to be successful’ in his appeal.