Oleksandr Usyk announced on June 26 that he has vacated his WBC, WBA, and IBF heavyweight championship belts. The 39-year-old Ukrainian boxer remains undefeated with a professional record of 25 wins and 16 knockouts [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].
Usyk said he is not retiring, telling reporters, “Friends, I am leaving the belts but not leaving the sport because I still have my last dance.” He added, "This is a well-considered decision that I am confident will open new opportunities for me. This is not the end of the story. The continuation lies ahead." [1, 2, 6]
Usyk became the undisputed heavyweight champion after defeating Tyson Fury in 2024. He previously relinquished the WBO heavyweight title in 2025, which is now held by Daniel Dubois [2, 7, 4].
His most recent fight was in May 2026 in Egypt, where he won by an 11th-round TKO over Rico Verhoeven in a bout that drew controversy over the stoppage [1, 2, 7, 6, 3, 4, 5].
Usyk thanked all sanctioning organizations for their support and said he wanted to free the belts so contenders lining up behind him could compete. He stated, "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." [2, 6, 3, 4, 5]
Usyk is a 2012 Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist and currently holds The Ring Magazine's heavyweight title. Sergey Lapin, Usyk's sporting director, said the decision to vacate titles aims to give Anthony Joshua a chance to reunify the belts. Lapin added that Usyk intends to end his career with a retirement fight in the United States, where he wants to close the final chapter of his boxing legacy. [5]
Usyk plans to schedule his "last dance" fight soon as he prepares to finish his career on his own terms [1, 5].
