Reigning unified world boxing champion Alexander Usyk will vacate all his heavyweight titles. He announced this on his Instagram page.
Usyk stated that he is giving up all his championship belts—“to make them available to other boxers.” The Ukrainian boxer noted that the decision to relinquish his titles is a conscious one and opens up new opportunities for him.
“I want to vacate all the belts I hold today so that the guys waiting in line for them can fight. Friends, I’m giving up the belts, but I’m not leaving the sport, because I have one last dance,” he said in a video message.
The final of the All-Ukrainian Boxing Tournament “Kyiv Cup” for the Klitschko brothers’ prizes will take place on May 31 at Stereo Plaza in Kyiv and will be timed to coincide with the celebration of Kyiv Day.
The tournament will be held from May 26 to May 31 and will bring together the strongest boxers from all over Ukraine. On the final day of the competition, spectators will see 15 final bouts featuring the country’s best athletes.
In addition to the final fights, the event program includes a solemn award ceremony for the winners, as well as performances by Ukrainian artists.
Among the honored guests of the event, Volodymyr and Vitali Klitschko, Denys Berinchyk, Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Viktor Postol, Serhiy Dzinziruk, Ukrainian and world boxing champions, representatives of the public sector, influencers, artists and other media personalities are expected.
The organizer of the tournament is the Kyiv City Boxing Federation.
“For us, the ‘Kyiv Cup’ is much more than a sports tournament. It is about the strength of Ukrainians, about a character that cannot be broken, and about the young generation of athletes that is already shaping the future of Ukrainian boxing today. We want such events to inspire young people, popularize sports and once again show: Ukraine is a country of strong people. That is why we are glad that the final of the tournament will take place precisely on Kyiv Day,” said Oleksandr Nehoda, president of the Kyiv City Boxing Federation.
Athletes born in 1986-2007 who have a sports qualification not lower than the 1st rank will take part in the tournament. According to the organizers, this will ensure a high level of competition and the spectacular nature of the bouts.
As a result of the tournament, the best boxer will receive a special award — a bronze statuette of the Klitschko brothers. All finalists will also be awarded gifts.
The “Kyiv Cup” for the Klitschko brothers’ prizes is a sports event aimed at the development of Ukrainian boxing, support for young athletes and popularization of a healthy lifestyle in Ukraine.
Tickets for the event are available at the link: https://ticketsbox.com/checkout/554f0ec1104b1bc3110bbab6c526c9b05c122279/
Open4Business is the official information partner of the tournament.
Representatives of the initiative group of regional federations announced a systemic crisis in the Ukrainian Boxing Federation and called for transparency and compliance with statutory norms ahead of the FBU conference scheduled for December 12.
The head of the FBU Control and Audit Commission, Konstantin Kalashnikov, announced that an initiative group had been formed from legally registered and actively operating regional branches, with about 15 organizations joining.
“The Ukrainian Boxing Federation is in a systemic crisis, so we have formed an initiative group of actively operating regional organizations. Our task is to restore the right to vote to the real federations and prevent decisions from being made behind closed doors or replaced by ‘paper’ branches; We will defend this right at the conference on December 12,” said Konstantin Kalashnikov, chairman of the FBU’s control and audit commission, at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine agency on Tuesday.
Kalashnikov also stated that the initiative group sees signs of a “raider takeover” and a violation of the principles of sports democracy in the actions of the current leadership. He separately drew attention to the risks to the international reputation of Ukrainian boxing due to cooperation with the IBA contrary to the position of the International Olympic Committee, and also announced the group’s intention to defend the position of the regions at the FBU conference.
In turn, FBU Vice President Andriy Kotelnyk noted that part of the boxing community does not support the split within the federation, but considers it unacceptable to ignore the IOC’s recommendations to distance itself from the IBA.
“The Ukrainian Boxing Association was created by an initiative group of five federations not to split or divide Ukrainian boxing, but to keep it in the Olympic Games. We supported the course of joining World Boxing, as recommended by the IOC, and want Ukrainian boxing to develop as a public, not a privatized structure,” said FBU Andriy Kotelnyk.
Kotelnyk also said that the initiative group had prepared a draft of the updated charter, which, according to them, preserves the role of regional centers, as well as a program for the development of Olympic boxing for the 2026–2028 and 2029–2032 cycles. He added that a number of companies have expressed their willingness to support the FBU, contributing approximately 25 million per year to the needs of Olympic boxing.
FBU presidential candidate and president of the Sumy Regional Boxing Federation Mykola Kravchenko presented his vision for reforms and a development program. Among his priorities, he named the institutional unification of the federation, fair and transparent elections of governing bodies, mechanisms for independent control, as well as financial motivation for athletes, coaches, and judges. He also supported the development of the National Boxing League and the project of a club championship based on the model of clubs symbolically associated with the structures of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“Ukrainian boxing has always been based on character, discipline, and tradition, but today it is time to move forward more boldly and in a more orderly manner. I propose institutional unification of the federation and transparent management without division into ‘us’ and ‘them’, fair and transparent elections of governing bodies, mechanisms for independent control and clear financial motivation for athletes, coaches and judges,” Mykola Kravchenko emphasized.
The president of the Kyiv City Boxing Federation, Oleksandr Negoda, gave examples of the work of the capital’s center and critically assessed the interaction with the leadership of the FBU. In particular, he reported that in 2025, three new halls were opened in Kyiv, one of which is in the Kyiv Sports Lyceum, and the closed city championship among youth and juniors attracted 428 participants, compared to the previous record of 170. At the same time, according to him, the Kyiv Federation’s request to include the Kyiv Cup tournament in the FBU calendar remained unanswered.
“We hold high-level capital championships and pay cash prizes to motivate our boxers, but the FBU completely ignores our appeals, in particular regarding the Kyiv Cup tournament. At the same time, at the last Ukrainian Cup, the prize was a certificate for 400 hryvnia—the Ukrainian Cup champion receives 400 hryvnia. How do you like that motivation?” asked the president of the Kyiv City Boxing Federation.
Negoda also drew attention to what he called “manipulation” with regional representation and referred to data from relevant agencies on the number of active regional federations within the FBU. He stated that some of the branches, which, according to him, are not active in all-Ukrainian competitions, retain the right to vote, while a number of federations with results at the national and international levels, in the opinion of the official, are deprived of this right.
Ukrainian boxer Alexander Usyk has lost his undisputed world champion status after voluntarily relinquishing his WBO belt, the World Boxing Organization said in an official statement.
“The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has announced that it has received official notification from Alexander Usyk’s team regarding the future of the WBO heavyweight championship title. After careful consideration, Usyk has decided to relinquish the title,” the statement on social media platform X said.
WBO President Gustavo Olivieri called Usyk “the champion of champions” in his comment.
“The WBO expresses its deep respect, admiration, and gratitude to Alexander Usyk, the undefeated WBO world champion in two weight classes, who has earned and demonstrated all the rights, privileges, and honors associated with the title of WBO super champion. His career is one of the most outstanding and historic in the modern era of boxing,“ he said.
The WBO emphasized in its statement that the organization’s doors ”will always remain open.“
”We accept and respect his decision to relinquish the WBO heavyweight super champion title. This is not a farewell, but, as his team put it, a respectful pause. The doors of the WBO will always remain open to Alexander Usyk and his team,” the organization said.
Usyk still remains the champion in the WBA, WBC, and IBF categories.
Alexander Usyk won the title of undisputed world champion by defeating Daniel Dubois by knockout in the fifth round of the fight.
The fight was for the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO undisputed heavyweight world titles. It was a rematch: the boxers first met in the ring in August 2023, when Usyk knocked out Dubois in the ninth round. Usyk regained the IBF title, which he had been forced to relinquish because he was unable to defend it at the time, and defended his titles in the other three divisions.
The session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has unanimously voted to include boxing in the program of the 2028 Olympic Games to be held in the United States.
“Thank you for approving the return of boxing to the Olympic program. We look forward to a great Olympic boxing tournament,” IOC President Thomas Bach said after the vote.
Bach noted that the competition will be organized by the World Boxing Federation. World Boxing was founded in 2023 after the severance of relations between the IOC and the International Boxing Association (IBA). The 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles from July 14 to 30.
