Oleksandr Usyk plans to vacate the WBA, WBC, and IBF heavyweight titles, he announced Friday.
Usyk added that he isn't retiring and will step into the boxing ring for his "final fight."
"It's a good day to say that I want to vacate the belts I currently hold," Usyk said in Ukrainian in a subtitled video posted on X. "I want to make them available so the guys who are next in line can fight for them.
"Friends, I'm leaving the belts, but I'm not leaving the sport, because I still have my last dance. ... There's more to come."
Usyk's sports director, Sergey Lapin, told ESPN's Andreas Hale that Usyk is keeping the Ring Magazine title and vacated the other belts "to give Anthony Joshua the opportunity to compete for and reunify them."
Usyk, 39, is coming off a win over champion kickboxer Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt in May. He rallied in the 11th round to score a TKO finish and retain the WBA and WBC titles. Heading into the championship rounds, Verhoeven appeared to be on the verge of pulling off one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
Usyk, one of the greatest heavyweights of this generation, has been a champion in the division since 2021 when he dethroned Anthony Joshua. He held the undisputed heavyweight title twice and and is also a former undisputed cruiserweight champion.
Usyk has beaten the likes of Joshua, Tyson Fury, and Daniel Dubois - twice each - to cement himself as a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
