Oleksandr Usyk 'makes official request for exemption' to stop him facing mandatory challenger in desperate bid to keep undisputed title and tee up Tyson Fury rematch

Oleksandr Usyk has made an official request for exemption over his IBF title, to remain the undisputed champion of the heavyweight division. 

The Ukrainian defeated Tyson Fury last weekend in a spilt decision victory to become the first fighter since Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999 to unify the belts. 

However, he is in danger of being stripped of his IBF Championship as he is overdue on the belt's mandatory title defence. 

According to reports, IBF President Daryl Peoples has confirmed that Usyk has officially requested an exception to keep his IBF heavyweight world title for a Tyson Fury rematch, rather than being stripped for not facing his IBF mandatory challenger. 

That challenger is Croatia's Filip Hrgovic, who has been the top heavyweight contender since an August 2022 win over Zhilei Zhang. 

Hrgovic will be in action next weekend when he takes on England’s Daniel Dubois as part of the Matchroom vs. Queensberry 5-v-5 in the same Saudi Arabia venue where Usyk tasted victory last week. 

Usyk went into his titanic clash with Fury knowing that his undisputed reign could possibly last only two weeks, and now the decision lies with the IBF over the future of the title. 

A decision is likely to be made ahead of the fight between Hrgovic and Dubois, with some speculation that the belt could even be made available as part of the showdown. 

The threat of a short undisputed reign and splinter of the belts was always a possibility when the original date of Usyk's clash with Fury was made. 

However, it was further complicated after the pair's fight was pushed forward following the injury to Fury's eye that saw the bout moved to a later date. 

Usyk won the WBA, IBF and WBO titles in a Sept. 2021 points win over Anthony Joshua and retained the bets in a rematch against the Brit a year later - the same night Hrgovic beat Zhang to become the mandatory challenger.

Now, the 37-year-old wants to extend the run with all four belts, so he can defend them against the Gypsy King once again in their expected rematch later this year.