The World Boxing Group (WBO) has ordered negotiations to start between heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk and Joseph Parker for a compulsory protection of the belt.
Usyk, who retained his three belts (WBC, WBA and WBO) after his unanimous determination victory over Tyson Fury in December 2024, stays unbeaten with 23 fights gained, 14 by KO. Parker retained his WBO interim title in February with a second-round KO victory over Martin Bakole in a combat held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The World Boxing Group has given each fighters 30 days to set a date for the combat. If they don’t accomplish that “it’s going to order the prize purse bidding course of in accordance with present laws”.
The New Zealander Joseph Parker gained the WBO heavyweight title in December 2016 after defeating Andy Ruiz Jr. He held it till March 2018 when he misplaced it to Anthony Joshua together with the IBO and IBF belts. After struggling his third profession defeat to Joe Joyce in 2022, Parker has six consecutive victories, together with one towards Deontay Wilder in December 2023
