The WBC recently approved Oleksandr Usyk’s title defense against Rico Verhoeven, but ordered the Ukrainian to face interim champion Agit Kabayel next.

Usyk will face kickboxing star Verhoeven in May this year in Egypt. It was originally supposed to be a fight for the WBC commemorative belt, but it was later considered a legitimate world title fight. The WBC’s decision was met with criticism given that the Dutch kickboxing champion had just had one professional boxing fight and did not appear in the world rankings.

President Mauricio Sulaiman assured that Kabayel’s next well-deserved shot would be next, but Usyk’s latest interview, in which he revealed his planned last three fights before retirement, made no mention of the German heavyweight.

With the two-time undisputed champion set to face Verhoeven, the winner of Fabio Wardley’s fights with Daniel Dubois and Tyson Fury, it appears he plans to ignore the WBC’s order and risk being stripped of his green and gold belt.

If Usyk manages to retain his IBF and WBA belts – which is by no means guaranteed as neither sanctioning body has commented on the Verhoeven fight – and negotiates with the winner of the WBO champ’s Wardley vs. Dubois fight, he could lobby the WBC for an undisputed fight to trump his mandatory challenge and allow him to retain the belt.

It would be a blow to Kabayel, who has held the interim belt since February 2025 with a win over Zhilei Zhang. Since then, he has defended himself in Germany against Damian Knybadrawing a packed arena to go 27-0 with 19 knockouts.

Somewhat surprisingly, Mike Coppinger reports that Gervonta Davis may have a rematch with Isaac Cruz following his 2021 fall. For those who don’t know, Davis is currently accused of abusing his ex-girlfriend. Given the seriousness of the charges against him, it was understandable to believe that Davis would be out of the ring for an extended period of time. However, recent reports indicate that this may not be the case. Of course, the rematch may take place this summer.

Although Cruz won their 2021 battle by decision, he put up quite a fight with Davis, perhaps proving to be the Baltimore native’s toughest opponent at the time. Davis’ last fight was against Lamont Roach. This fight, which took place a year ago this month, was much closer than expected. Some believed Davis’ decision victory was a gift from the judges. Roach wanted a rematch, but it didn’t happen. Instead, Davis was scheduled to face Jake Paul in a novelty fight slow last year. Davis’s legal troubles put an end to the scheduled fight, and Anthony Joshua replaced Davis and then defeated Paul. While Davis would undoubtedly be the favorite to sign a rematch with Cruz, fans and analysts would undoubtedly wonder whether Davis is the fighter he once was.

First there was the Roach fight, then there was the fact that Roach was unwilling or unable to face Roach in a legitimate rematch. Add in the legal issues and a reported lack of interest in the build-up to Paul’s later crushing fight, and it’s no wonder people have questions. Things got to the point where even before his January arrest, people were questioning Davis’s interest in sports. Reports about talks about a second fight with Cruz, however, at least to some extent refute the thesis that Davis is not interested in fighting professionally.

This is obviously good news for Cruz as he now has a second chance to defeat the still undefeated Davis. The invigorating fighter most recently fought Lamont Roach to a draw in their December bout. Time will tell whether the fight with Davis will actually take place. This fight would definitely be fascinating to watch, even if it wasn’t exactly a great fight. If the fight becomes a reality, Davis will have the opportunity to re-establish himself as one of the biggest vigorous names in the sport.

“I won the third fight,” Fury told Gareth A. Davies. “But the thing is, I know if he gets up at the end of the fight, I’m not going to make a decision. For me, it’s like, I might as well give him the fight before we even start boxing. Give him a W and I’ll give him an L.”

Usyk defeated Fury twice in 2024 in hard-fought championship fights that decided the undisputed heavyweight title. The Ukrainian’s victories transformed the division and left Fury trying to rebuild momentum in the final stage of his career.

When the discussion turned to the scoring of these fights, Fury made it clear that he still viewed the outcome differently from the official verdicts.

“And like I said, I thought I won that fight,” Fury said. “But you know what he did? That’s someone else’s opinion again.”

Fury’s comments suggest that from his perspective the debate surrounding these fights remains unresolved. Instead of treating the defeats as decisive setbacks, the former champion still doubts whether a third meeting would have produced a different outcome on the scorecards.

This lingering doubt keeps the trilogy discussion alive even as the heavyweight landscape moves forward with other matchups. Fury has talked about returning to winning form and then fighting main fights again, but his comments show that the controversy surrounding Usyk’s decision has not abated.

For Fury, the conclusion remains the same: if he doesn’t stop Usyk, he doubts the judges would award him the victory.