Fight Usyk before you take on Fury – WBO warns Anthony Joshua

The President of the World Boxing Organisation, Paco Valcárcel, has insisted that Anthony Joshua should fight Oleksandr Usyk first, before taking on Tyson Fury.

From antecedents in the boxing world, this is a warning and would result in Joshua’s being stripped of the WBO World Heavy Weight title belt if it is not heeded. The statement comes on the heels of the news that Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have reached an agreement for a two-fight deal in 2021.

While both the Joshua and Fury camps still have a host of issues to sort out before any contracts can be signed, the sides have shown optimism that the fights will happen next year.

It has been over 20 years since there was an undisputed heavyweight champion and Joshua holds three of the world titles – the WBO, WBA (Super) and IBF belts. Fury currently owns the Ring magazine, lineal and WBC titles and fight fans are desperate to see the two heavyweights go toe to toe.

The WBO President, Paco Valcárcel via his handle, @PacoValcarcel, tweeted thus:

Love to see WBO unified champion @anthonyfjoshua
fighting WBO former and current WBC champion @Tyson_Fury
for the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, but WBO mandatory should be next @JakeNDaBox
@DanRafael1
@ChavaESPN
@osunaespn
@pugboxing