June 26 (Reuters) – Oleksandr Usyk said on Friday he has vacated his WBC, WBA and IBF heavyweight championships to pursue a final fight.
The 39-year-old Ukrainian has won all of his 25 professional bouts and became an undisputed heavyweight champion when he handed Briton Tyson Fury his first loss in 2024.
The 2012 Olympic champion relinquished his WBO championship last year and is coming off a TKO win over Rico Verhoeven last month.
“Today is a good day to announce that I want to give up all the titles that I now hold. To leave them free so that all the guys that are standing in line behind me can box for them,” Usyk said in an Instagram video.
“My friends, I am giving up my titles, but I am not leaving sport because I have a last dance… there is more to come. Glory to God, Glory to Ukraine.”
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Writing by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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