The WBC have declared they would “accept” Anthony Joshua 28-3 (25) as a challenger to the winner of the undisputed heavyweight title fight between Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) and Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 18.
Britain’s Fury, 35, is the reigning WBC titleholder, while 37-year-old Ukrainian southpaw Usyk holds the WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine championships.
The duo are expected to face each other in an immediate rematch, meaning former two-time unified champion Joshua will be frozen out of the world championship picture until next year.
Still, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman is lobbying on behalf of number one contender Joshua following the 34-year-old Brit’s second-round knockout of former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou 0-2 in Saudi Arabia on Friday night.
“The WBC was presented a sanction request which was to fight for the undisputed. The WBC accepted that sanctioning and we accepted the rematch they have requested,” Sulaiman told Sky Sports.
“But, if it is not anything to do with contractual or promotion, we would absolutely accept the winner to fight Joshua.
“The WBC has been very much attentive to this matter. So we have completely freed the ground for the undisputed, for a rematch, and for another fight of that level.
“The WBC position right now is very open to support the undisputed champion taking on the fights that the fans want to see.”
Sulaiman said he was impressed by Joshua’s performance against Ngannou after Fury climbed off the canvas and struggled to a hotly disputed split decision victory over the 37-year-old Cameroonian in October last year.
“It was unbelievable,” Sulaiman said. “He looked like a champion of the world – tremendous, powerful, precise and he made a statement. I am very proud and happy for him.
“That is how the world is, they judge you by your last performance and now he is a power force and everybody is claiming he is the best heavyweight in the world, last year they were saying he was washed up.
“Now, everyone is saying Fury is all washed up but we will see on May 18.”
Fury will be attempting to become the first man to defeat former undisputed cruierweight champion Usyk, who holds two points victories over Joshua.
“This is the way media and fans and human beings are. We like to speculate, we like to make comments, we like to be part of the conversation but in reality, there are so many things that go into the sport of boxing,” Sulaiman continued.
“It is all about styles. You beat one great fighter, then the other beats the other one, then the other beats the other. (Joe) Frazier dominated and knocked down (Muhammad) Ali to be knocked out next fight and knocked down six times by (George) Foreman.
“So, it is all about styles, you cannot compare one against each other with the performance against another fighter but this is great to have a conversation going on regarding boxing.”
