Ukraine’s heavyweight champion Usyk forced to fight IBF title challenger

This was announced by the Croatian's promoter Eddie Hearn, BoxingSocial reports.

According to him, after his victory over Australian Demsey McKean on August 12, Filip Hrgovic will insist on the mandatory defence of the title by the winner of the fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois.  

"We will insist on the mandatory defence of the IBF title. Hrgovic needed a fight with McKean to stay active. The IBF has confirmed that immediately after the Usyk-Dubois fight, they will schedule a mandatory defence. So he will fight the winner of this fight," Hearn said.

The Usyk-Dubois fight will take place on August 26 in Wroclaw, Poland.

The Ukrainian holds the WBA, WBO and IBF titles.

Hrgovic is a mandatory contender for the IBF belt

• Oleksandr Usyk had his previous fight on August 20, 2022 and won the rematch by unanimous decision over Anthony Joshua. The Ukrainian also fought the Briton in September 2021 and took away his championship titles in London.

• On July 31, Terence Crawford took over from Oleksandr Usyk in the ranking of the world's best boxers regardless of weight category according to The Ring.