Usyk to vacate heavyweight belts, says he is not retiring

Oleksandr Usyk emptied the heavyweight title picture on Friday, saying he will vacate the WBA, WBC and IBF belts while insisting he is not retiring. The unbeaten 39-year-old, 25-0 with 16 knockouts, leaves the division without an undisputed champion and forces the sanctioning bodies to rebuild the top of the class.

Usyk called the move a “well-considered decision” that would “open new opportunities,” and said it was “not the end of his story.” The Ukrainian has already made history in the four-belt era by becoming undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight. He first unified the heavyweight division by beating Tyson Fury on a split decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 18, 2024, then regained undisputed status at heavyweight by beating Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on July 19, 2025.

The immediate beneficiary is Agit Kabayel, who had been positioned by the WBC as interim heavyweight champion while Usyk held the full title. The WBC’s June 2026 ratings page still listed Usyk as champion and recorded his last defense on May 23, 2026, but his camp had recently been weighing whether to face Kabayel or vacate the belt amid a mandatory-defense situation. With Usyk stepping away from the WBC title, Kabayel is now in line to move from interim status to a full title shot or promotion, depending on how the governing body resets the division.

Dubois already holds another major belt in the shuffle. Usyk vacated the WBO heavyweight title in November 2025, and that moved the belt to Dubois, leaving the division split even before Friday’s announcement. The WBA and IBF titles now also return to circulation, setting up separate races for new champions and mandatory challengers rather than one clean path to an undisputed crown.

For heavyweight boxing, that means the belts scatter again just as Usyk had gathered them. The sport’s fractured championship system is back on display: one fighter can rule the division in the ring, then vacate a set of belts and instantly create three new title ladders for contenders, interim champions and sanctioning bodies to sort out.