Usyk gives up his remaining belts: “last dance” changes the heavyweight picture
Oleksandr Usyk, one of the most successful boxers of the modern era, has caused a major shift in the heavyweight division with his decision to give up the remaining world belts he held after winning undisputed champion status for the second time. According to the latest announcement reported by talkSPORT, the Ukrainian boxer has vacated the titles under the WBA, WBC and IBF versions, but at the same time emphasized that this does not mean the immediate end of his career. In a message to fans, Usyk described his next phase as preparation for the “last dance”, leaving open the possibility of one more appearance in the ring. The opponent for that fight has not yet been confirmed, and neither the venue nor the date of the bout has been officially announced. The decision comes at a moment when questions around the heavyweight division had already opened up regarding mandatory challengers, special approvals from organizations and an increasingly complex schedule of title defenses.
Usyk said that he is not immediately retiring from boxing, but that he is returning the belts so that other fighters can have room to fight for world titles. According to the same announcement, he thanked the boxing organizations, fans and Ukraine, and ended the message with words of faith and patriotism. Such a tone is not unusual for Usyk, who throughout his career has often linked sporting successes with support for Ukraine, especially after the start of the Russian invasion. In sporting terms, this is a decision that does not erase his legacy, but it significantly changes the current map of boxing’s most prestigious division. The belts he had collected for years through victories over Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois and other opponents are now re-entering the decision-making systems of the individual organizations.
A decision that opens up more questions than it answers
The most important question after Usyk’s announcement concerns how the WBA, WBC and IBF will arrange fights for the vacant titles. In professional boxing, each organization has its own rules, rankings, mandatory challengers and the ability to make special decisions, which means the process does not have to unfold at the same time or in the same way. According to available information, Usyk presented the decision as a voluntary move, not as the consequence of a defeat or a current medical restriction. This means that the organizations should now separately announce their next steps, including possible promotions of interim champions, orders for elimination bouts or direct fights for the vacant belts. Until the official decisions of each organization, it remains unclear who will be the first to get the chance to turn Usyk’s departure from the throne into a title of their own.
It is particularly important that Usyk’s decision does not come from an isolated context. In March 2026, in its official heavyweight status, the WBC stated that Usyk was then the reigning champion, that Agit Kabayel held the interim title and that the winner of Usyk’s voluntary defense against Rico Verhoeven must then box against Kabayel. Bad Left Hook reported this week that Usyk’s team, faced with the issue of a mandatory fight against Kabayel, stressed that the offer had to have appropriate financial and promotional value. Such a development shows how closely sporting obligations in top-level professional boxing are connected with negotiations, broadcast rights, purses and commercial priorities. Usyk’s move can therefore speed up the arrival of new champions, but also open a new period of negotiation among promoters and organizations.
How Usyk lost undisputed champion status
Usyk had previously already lost the status of reigning undisputed champion because in November 2025 he gave up the WBO belt. According to a resolution by the World Boxing Organization, the vacancy created by Usyk’s withdrawal from WBO obligations led to the then interim champion Fabio Wardley being promoted to full WBO heavyweight champion. ESPN reported at the time that Usyk had vacated the WBO title after Wardley became the logical next challenger, and that the British boxer thereby received a world title without a direct fight against the Ukrainian. That decision was the first sign that Usyk, after unifying all four major organizational titles for the second time, did not necessarily intend to follow every mandatory defense. With the current relinquishment of the WBA, WBC and IBF belts, that process is now complete.
To understand the weight of the decision, it is important to recall that Usyk reached all the main belts for the second time with a victory over Daniel Dubois in July 2025 at London’s Wembley. CBS Sports reported at the time that Usyk, with a fifth-round knockout, once again became undisputed world champion and that with the victory he regained the IBF title alongside the WBA, WBC and WBO belts. That result was the continuation of an exceptional run in the heavyweight division, after Usyk had previously twice defeated Anthony Joshua, beaten Tyson Fury in a unification fight and then beaten him again in the rematch. The achievement was even more significant because, before moving up among the heavyweights, Usyk had already been undisputed champion in the cruiserweight division. Few boxers in the modern era can point to such a clean streak against such a large number of elite opponents.
The last defense and an unusual match by the pyramids in Giza
Usyk’s last confirmed fight before the decision to give up the belts was against Dutch fighter Rico Verhoeven, a longtime kickboxing star, on May 23, 2026, by the pyramids in Giza, Egypt. Before that match, the WBA officially announced that it was allowing Usyk to defend the WBA super belt under special conditions, noting that Verhoeven, since he was not ranked in the WBA professional boxing rankings, would not automatically win the title even in the event of victory. The WBC had also previously announced that it was sanctioning Usyk’s voluntary defense and that the winner would then have to resolve the obligation toward Agit Kabayel. ESPN reported after the match that Usyk stopped Verhoeven in the eleventh round, thereby preserving his unbeaten professional record. That encounter further emphasized Usyk’s global appeal, but at the same time deepened the debate about the boundaries between sporting rankings and major commercial events.
The match with Verhoeven was distinctive because it brought together a top-level boxer and a dominant kickboxer in a setting with a strong promotional character. According to the WBA explanation, the special regulatory framework was intended to enable the super champion’s activity in an event of global importance, while at the same time protecting the ranking structure. In its divisional status, the WBC emphasized Usyk’s unusual activity in the previous years, including victories over Joshua, Fury and Dubois, and stated that the decision on the voluntary defense had been made in accordance with the organization’s rules. Such exceptions are not unknown in professional boxing, but they often draw criticism because ranked challengers may have to wait longer for their opportunity. Usyk’s current relinquishment of the belts in fact cuts off that dispute: instead of defending the titles according to the order of obligations, he is handing them over to the organizations and announcing a final match outside the classic logic of defenses.
What the champion’s departure means for the heavyweight division
For the heavyweight division, this is a turning point because, after a longer period of Usyk’s dominance, the possibility of fragmentation at the top is opening up. One belt is already held by Fabio Wardley under the WBO version, and the remaining three will now have to receive new holders or at least new fights that will define them. The WBC context points to Kabayel as a key actor, while the WBA and IBF would have to confirm their own order and conditions. In practice, this may mean several parallel fights with different champions, which would temporarily return the heavyweight division to the familiar state of divided titles. Such an outcome often creates more big fights, but also makes it harder for viewers to follow who the true number one man in the division is.
Usyk’s status remains different from that of boxers who left the top after a defeat. He is not leaving the ring as a dethroned champion, but as an unbeaten champion who is choosing the final phase of his career himself. According to available information, he has not announced full retirement, but one more fight that could have more symbolic and commercial value than organizational value. In that sense, his “last dance” will probably be the subject of great interest from promoters, television companies and potential opponents. As long as the opponent’s name has not been officially confirmed, it is realistic to expect speculation about rematches, exhibition-attractive duels or a meeting with a fighter who would carry a clear sporting story. What is already certain is that this match will no longer be a classic defense of all the biggest belts.
A legacy built in two divisions
Usyk’s decision carries additional weight because of the way he built his career. After Olympic gold and complete dominance in the cruiserweight division, he moved among the heavyweights without the enormous physical advantage held by many natural representatives of that division. His success was based on movement, precision, changes of rhythm, endurance and tactical discipline, and not exclusively on punching power. Victories over Joshua opened the door to the global summit for him, victories over Fury brought him historic status, and the duels with Dubois confirmed that he could also cope with younger, powerful heavyweights. That is why his relinquishment of the belts cannot be viewed merely as administrative news, but as the end of one phase of modern boxing.
At the same time, Usyk remains an important public figure outside the sporting framework. In international media, he has often been presented as a symbol of Ukrainian resilience, and his messages to fans regularly include thanks to Ukraine and to the people who support him. In the latest announcement, according to talkSPORT, he also thanked the organizations with which he cooperated during his championship years. Such wording suggests that he wants to close the chapter without conflict with the bodies that govern the titles, although his decision creates a complex job for them. In a sport in which retirements, comebacks and negotiating twists happen often, Usyk has for now left enough room for one last great evening, but not for the continuation of a championship cycle.
A new race begins without the man who unified the top
The heavyweight division is now entering a period in which the hierarchy will have to be re-established. For boxers who have spent months waiting for a place at the top of the rankings, Usyk’s decision could be the most important opportunity of their careers. For promoters and organizations, it opens room for new events and new champions, but also for potential disputes over championships, mandatory challengers and the order of fights. For the audience, the situation is simple only in one respect: the boxer who managed to unify cruiserweight and heavyweight has decided that the belts will no longer determine his final step. Everything else, from the name of the new opponent to the future holders of the WBA, WBC and IBF titles, still needs official confirmation.
At this moment, the most cautious assessment is that Usyk has not ended his career, but he has ended the period in which he held the heavyweight division through the system of the world’s largest organizations. His next appearance, if it truly is the last, will carry the weight of farewell for a boxer who rarely lost control of his own story. At the same time, his decision brings uncertainty back to a division that, after unification, briefly had a clear supreme champion. It is precisely this combination of the end of one dominance and the beginning of a new race that makes this news one of the most important boxing turning points of 2026.
Sources:
- talkSPORT – report on Usyk’s relinquishment of the WBA, WBC and IBF belts and announcement of the “last dance” (link)
- World Boxing Organization – resolution on the WBO heavyweight division and promotion of Fabio Wardley to full champion (link)
- World Boxing Association – official approval of Usyk’s defense of the WBA title against Rico Verhoeven on May 23, 2026 (link)
- World Boxing Council – official heavyweight status in March 2026 and the context of mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel (link)
- ESPN – report on Usyk’s victory over Rico Verhoeven in Giza on May 23, 2026 (link)
- Bad Left Hook – report on the WBC obligation toward Agit Kabayel and the position of Usyk’s team on negotiations (link)
- CBS Sports – report on Usyk’s victory over Daniel Dubois in July 2025 and his regaining of undisputed status (link)