Tyson Fury has taken a swipe at Oleksander Usyk and the WBO, saying the governing body shouldn’t have chosen ‘some cruiserweight bum’ to top their heavyweight rankings ahead of him.
Fury is preparing for a huge rematch with WBC champion Deontay Wilder on February 22 in an attempt to win back one of his world titles that he gave up while he spent nearly three years out of the ring due to mental health problems.
His decision to fight the American has seen him removed from the WBO rankings completely, with Ukrainian Usyk instead claiming top spot shortly after stepping up from cruiserweight last year.
Tyson Fury has hit out at the WBO for making Oleskandr Usyk their No 1 challenger
Fury called Usyk ‘some cruiserweight bum’ having only recently stepped up to heavyweight
In a post on Twitter, WBO president Paco Valcarcel suggested that Fury should soon fight up-and-coming heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov after seeing a video of the Uzbekistan fighter in action.
Fury responded, saying he might have considered had he not been ‘removed as the No 1 ranked WBO’.
‘Maybe if you hadn’t removed me from No 1 ranked WBO! And put some cruiserweight bum with one fight at heavyweight then you could have a say!’, the 31-year-old said.
WBO president Paco Valcarcel said Usyk was their top fighter because Fury was ‘not available’
Valcarcel replied to Fury, saying: ‘Champ we respect you a lot, but you aren’t available… that’s the reason WBO removed you from the rankings. By the way champ, good luck.’
Usyk has only had one fight at the top-weight division, a stoppage win against Chazz Witherspoon in October, but was awarded the mandatory position due to being the undisputed cruiserweight champion. And holding the WBO ‘super’ world title belt allowed him to jump ahead of rivals such as Dillian Whyte.
His position now puts him in pole position to face off against the WBO champion Anthony Joshua, who won all four of his world title belts back by outpointing Andy Ruiz Jr in their December rematch in Saudia Arabia.
The British fighter faces Deontay Wilder in a crucial rematch in Las Vegas on February 22
The winner could face off against Anthony Joshua should he overcome a fight with Usyk
There has been some confusion over who Joshua will face with his mandatories queuing up to fight him, but it looks likely that IBF’s top-ranked fighter Kubrat Pulev will be first in line.
Usyk is thought to be in talks for a fight with Derek Chisora first, before possibly taking on Joshua later on in the year if he emerges victorious.
Fury’s first fight with Wilder ended in a draw, as he survived to hear the final bell despite being floored by a huge left hand in Los Angeles.
If he wins the rematch in Las Vegas, a third fight between the pair has been mooted, with the eventual winner set to square off against Joshua for an undisputed clash, should the British star come through his mandatories unscathed.
