What will happen if Oleksandr Usyk drops from heavyweight to cruiserweight after Tyson Fury rematch

Less than three weeks after writing himself into the history books of boxing, Oleksandr Usyk has confirmed his intention to move back down to cruiserweight once he has taken care of his rematch with Tyson Fury.

On May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the 37-year-old became the first fighter in the modern era to capture all four belts in the heavyweight division, with a split decision victory over Fury also making him the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the weight class since Lennox Lewis back in 1999.

After being handed his first professional defeat of his career, the "Gypsy King" Fury has quickly exercised his right to call for a rematch, and he and Usyk are scheduled to do battle in the Middle East again at the end of the year on December 21. Despite requesting special permission to defend the belt, Usyk is expected to be stripped of his IBF title ahead of the rematch, after agreeing to face Fury again instead of taking on the organisation's mandatory challenger.

British heavyweight Daniel Dubois won the interim IBF title with a superb stoppage win over Filip Hrgovic last weekend, and could face Anthony Joshua in huge domestic dust-up in a contest at Wembley for the full world title in September. In an interview with 3 Knockdown Rule podcast, Usyk has hinted that he wants to campaign at cruiserweight again - where he reigned as undisputed champion in 2018. He said : "I think maybe after the rematch, I am going to go down in weight to cruiserweight. I want more (fights at) cruiserweight."

The Ukrainian boxer's promoter Egis Kilmas also echoed those sentiments, adding: "Maybe we go back down to cruiserweight. We spoke about it yesterday, to get undisputed for a second time in the cruiserweight division." So if Usyk