Frank Warren has revealed that a bout 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 sparked controversy and much discussion within the boxing community.
The 21-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.
Oleksandr Usyk (bottom) defeated Daniel Dubois on Saturday, stopping the Brit in the ninth round but was controversially knocked to the floor during the fight
Dubois (left) struck him in the abdomen and the punch was deemed to be ‘below the belt’ by the referee, who allowed Usyk some time to gather himself and continue the fight
Promoter Frank Warren has doubled down on his claims that the fight should be ruled a ‘no contest’ and that there should be a rematch between the pair, with this being the controversial punch
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.
‘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.
Despite demanding a rematch, Warren added that a fight between Usyk and Tyson Fury (pictured) is ‘still being planned for next year’
Warren (pictured) reaffirmed his stance that a second fight between Dubois and Usyk should happen, but added that Fury vs Usyk is still in the works
‘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.
