Oleksandr Usyk’s next fight after Daniel Dubois is already lined up, and it’s not likely to be Tyson Fury as Filip Hrgovic says he will refuse to step aside

If Oleksandr Usyk beats Daniel Dubois on Saturday night, it won’t be long until his next challenge is put forward.

The unified WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion is a big favourite in his fight, live on talkSPORT, against his British WBA mandatory challenger, with most expecting him to emerge victorious.

Mark Robinson/Matchroom

Mark Robinson/Matchroom

The fight between Usyk and Dubois only came about because negotiations failed to secure an undisputed showdown with Tyson Fury.

When these talks collapsed, it became clear that the Ukrainian would have to instead face a mandatory challenger.

He has three ready and waiting – Dubois (WBA), Filip Hrgovic (IBF) and Zhilei Zhang (WBO).

When a unified world champion has multiple mandatories, the sanctioning bodies communicate and try to establish a rotation system which determines the order for these to take place.

The IBF jumped the gun last November and ordered Usyk vs Hrgovic, but it was later clarified that the WBA would in fact have to come first.

This is because the WBA’s last heavyweight mandatory (Anthony Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin in September 2018) is less recent than the IBF’s (Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev in December 2020) and the WBO’s (Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk in September 2021).

As a result, Usyk vs Dubois is set for Saturday night.

Because Fury is set to face Francis Ngannou in October, it appears unlikely that the IBF will hang around before ordering Hrgovic as the next challenger in line for whoever wins between Usyk and Dubois.

Hrgovic told White and Jordan on talkSPORT: “I should be next, yeah, I’m next in line, IBF is next in line.

“According to all the rules, I should be next.

“There’s no unification fight, they had all the time in the world to make that unification and they didn’t want to do that.

“So you vacate the titles or you fight your mandatory, that should be the case.”

Asked if he’d accept step-aside money to allow Fury vs Usyk to take place, Hrgovic insisted: “They don’t want to do that fight, Fury’s fighting some guy who’s never boxed before, they don’t want to do that.

“So fight your mandatories, I’m not gonna step aside and I want to get my shot.

“I deserve it, I work hard, I’ve been in this sport for 17 years and I want to get my chance.”