{"id":289636,"date":"2025-11-17T21:00:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T21:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/289636\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T21:00:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T21:00:10","slug":"boxing-usyk-vacates-wbo-heavyweight-title-wardley-set-to-take-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/289636\/","title":{"rendered":"Boxing-Usyk vacates WBO heavyweight title, Wardley set to take over"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Nov 17 &#8211; Oleksandr Usyk has relinquished his WBO heavyweight title after informing the governing body he would not proceed with a mandatory defence against Britain\u2019s Fabio Wardley, the World Boxing Organization said on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/ht-generic_sports2_1751287373503_1751287382987.jpg\" alt=\"Boxing-Usyk vacates WBO heavyweight title, Wardley set to take over\" title=\"Boxing-Usyk vacates WBO heavyweight title, Wardley set to take over\"\/>   Boxing-Usyk vacates WBO heavyweight title, Wardley set to take over    <\/p>\n<p>The WBO said it received \u201cformal communication\u201d from the Ukrainian\u2019s team and confirmed the 38-year-old had \u201celected to relinquish the title after thoughtful consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wardley, 30, is expected to be elevated to WBO heavyweight champion following Usyk\u2019s decision, according to Sky Sports.<\/p>\n<p>Usyk holds the WBA, WBC and IBF heavyweight titles, having regained the latter belt in December when he stopped Britain\u2019s Daniel Dubois to restore his undisputed status.<\/p>\n<p>He first became four-belt undisputed champion in May 2024 by beating Tyson Fury, before vacating the IBF crown the following month due to mandatory obligations linked to a rematch.<\/p>\n<p>WBO president Gustavo Olivieri paid tribute to Usyk in an emotional statement, calling him \u201ca champion of champions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe WBO extends its profound respect, admiration, and gratitude to Oleksandr Usyk, an undefeated, two-division WBO undisputed world champion,\u201d Olivieri said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis career stands as one of the most extraordinary and historic of the modern boxing era.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The WBO added that Usyk had exemplified \u201cevery right, privilege and honour associated with the WBO Super Champion distinction.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe accept and respect his decision to relinquish the WBO heavyweight super championship,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not a farewell but \u2014 as expressed by his team \u2014 a respectful pause. The doors of the WBO will always remain open to Oleksandr Usyk and his team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Usyk won the WBO belt in 2021 when he defeated Anthony Joshua, later adding the WBC title by beating Fury. He defended the WBO crown four times during his reign.<\/p>\n<p>In July, the WBO ordered negotiations for a mandatory defence against its interim champion Joseph Parker, giving both camps 30 days to reach a deal before a purse bid.<\/p>\n<p>Parker, who won the interim title last year against Zhilei Zhang and retained it in February by stopping Martin Bakole, remained the organisation\u2019s official challenger at the time.<\/p>\n<p>This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nov 17 &#8211; Oleksandr Usyk has relinquished his WBO heavyweight title after informing the governing body he would&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,81762,131165,5384,82,27977,29475,113093],"class_list":["post-289636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fabio-wardley","tag-ibf-heavyweight-titles","tag-oleksandr-usyk","tag-sports","tag-wba","tag-wbc","tag-wbo-heavyweight-title"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}