Daniel Dubois will fight for the WBO heavyweight title later this year after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt. Dubois lost the IBF title to Usyk last July when he was knocked out in the fifth round at Wembley, having also been stopped by Usyk two years earlier.
Usyk chose not to make a mandatory WBO defence against interim champion Fabio Wardley, which elevated Wardley to full champion. On Tuesday, reports confirmed Wardley will defend the title against Dubois on May 9 in Manchester, according to boxing journalist Mike Coppinger.
Usyk had hoped to defend his remaining WBA, WBC and IBF titles against Deontay Wilder, but Wilder instead signed to fight Derek Chisora in April. With no opponent confirmed, Usyk has been linked to a crossover bout with kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven, a fight publicly backed by Turki Alalshikh. Usyk has shared posts about the idea but has not confirmed his next move.
