The World Boxing Council (WBC) has no immediate plans to appoint a new mandatory challenger for heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, according to its President Mauricio Sulaiman. Fury’s last mandatory defense was in April 2022 against Dillian Whyte, and he has been unable to secure an opponent for his expected return in the upcoming months, with potential fights against Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua, and Andy Ruiz falling through.
In 2022, the WBC ordered former world champions Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz to compete in a final eliminator, with the winner to challenge Fury. However, Wilder and Ruiz have been unable to reach an agreement for the fight. Despite this, Sulaiman, who recently met with Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren, revealed that the WBC is still hoping for a deal between Wilder and Ruiz to be finalized for the eliminator.
Wilder’s head trainer, Malik Scott, has recently hinted at Ruiz being a frontrunner for a potential fall fight. Sulaiman confirmed that discussions around the heavyweight division and the difficulty of arranging fights for Tyson Fury were central in his meeting with Warren, and maintained that the Wilder vs. Ruiz final elimination process was still in progress.
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