Gassiev team challenges WBA over Fury-Joshua ‘super’ title plan

Murat Gassiev’s representatives are seeking answers from the WBA amid reports that the organisation could put its vacant ‘super’ heavyweight championship on the line for Tyson Fury’s fight with Anthony Joshua on December 11.

The proposal would create an unusual situation at the top of the WBA rankings. Gassiev is already recognised as the organisation’s heavyweight champion, while Jarrell Miller occupies the No.1 position. Fury and Joshua are ranked second and third respectively.

Oleksandr Usyk previously held the WBA ‘super’ championship as part of his undisputed reign before relinquishing three of his four major titles in June. Gassiev has since stood as the WBA’s only heavyweight title-holder.

The sanctioning body has not yet formally confirmed that Fury-Joshua will be contested for the vacant belt, nor has it publicly outlined how the move would affect Gassiev or Miller.

“Murat Gassiev is the reigning WBA heavyweight world champion,” his co-promoter, Ivaylo Gotzev of Epic Sports and Entertainment, told BoxingScene. “He won his championship in the ring, has defended it and has fulfilled his responsibilities as champion.

“If a new super champion is now to be designated above the existing world champion, then there must be absolute clarity about how that decision is consistent with the WBA’s rules, rankings and championship structure.”

Gassiev camp seeks answers

Gassiev claimed the WBA title by stopping Kubrat Pulev in the sixth round last December. He retained it in July with another sixth-round stoppage, defeating late replacement Peter Kadiru after Usyk had vacated the ‘super’ championship.

Miller, meanwhile, moved into the mandatory picture by defeating Lenier Pero on points in a WBA eliminator in April.

That leaves the organisation with several decisions to make should Fury-Joshua receive championship status, including the future standing of Gassiev and whether Miller would retain a mandatory claim against one of the WBA’s heavyweight champions.

“We are formally seeking clarification from the WBA and, where applicable, enforcement of Murat’s rights under its rules and regulations,” Gotzev said.

“The prestige of a sanctioning body is built on the credibility of its championships. A world title has value because fighters know what they must do to earn it, champions what they must do to keep it, and the public understands what that championship represents.”

A Fury-Joshua title fight would also mark a departure from the circumstances in which the WBA’s ‘super’ championship was originally introduced.

The designation was initially used for champions who had unified the WBA belt with titles from other organisations. Its role subsequently broadened, with the WBA at times recognising multiple champions within the same division.

Neither Fury nor Joshua currently holds a world championship.

Fury’s manager Spencer Brown publicly floated the idea of restoring the vacant ‘super’ title for the fight during negotiations in July.

“I want to see the WBA [super title] for the [Joshua-Fury] super fight,” Brown told BoxingScene. “I’d love to see it because it’s vacant. Why couldn’t them two fight for it? Could there be any better a fight? One of them will become a three-time world champion. I love that.”

WBA previously pledged to reduce titles

The prospect of another two-tier championship structure comes five years after the WBA began reducing the number of belts it recognised.

The Association of Boxing Commissions called on the organisation to address its proliferation of titles in 2021, prompting WBA president Gilberto Mendoza to commit to a gradual reduction.

“We will reduce titles permanently,” Mendoza said at the time. “That flexibility we’ve had with championships, we will phase it out progressively.”

The WBA recognised 27 champions across boxing’s 18 divisions in June 2024. By June 2026, that figure had increased to 43.

The organisation nevertheless maintained that its consolidation policy remained in place, stating: “The WBA remains committed to its goal of reducing the number of world champions.”

Reintroducing a ‘super’ champion at heavyweight while Gassiev remains in possession of the existing WBA title would therefore place renewed focus on how the organisation intends to structure its championships.

Fury and Joshua chasing third reigns

For Fury and Joshua, the addition of a WBA title would give both men the opportunity to become heavyweight champion for a third time.

Joshua first won the IBF championship against Charles Martin in 2016 before adding the WBA and later WBO belts. His first reign ended against Andy Ruiz Jnr in June 2019, but he regained all three championships in their rematch six months later.

Usyk ended Joshua’s second reign in September 2021 and defeated him again the following year. Joshua later challenged Daniel Dubois for the IBF title in September 2024 but was stopped in the fifth round.

Fury became unified WBA, IBF and WBO champion when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. His second reign began when he stopped Deontay Wilder to win the WBC championship in February 2020.

That run ended when Usyk defeated Fury twice in 2024.

Fury and Joshua had previously agreed terms for an undisputed championship fight in 2021, only for an arbitration ruling to force Fury into a third contest with Wilder. Attempts to revive the fight following Joshua’s losses to Usyk also failed.

Their long-awaited meeting is now scheduled for Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on December 11, with Netflix carrying the contest globally. The contracts do not contain a rematch clause.

There is also a considerable financial dimension to any WBA involvement.

Sanctioning fees are calculated from fighters’ purses, and Mendoza revealed at the WBA convention in December 2024 that such fees accounted for 67 per cent of the organisation’s gross annual revenue, worth approximately $4 million.

Fury promoter Frank Warren has said Fury and Joshua will receive record earnings for British fighters.

Whether those purses will also be attached to a WBA ‘super’ championship remains unresolved.

The organisation has yet to publicly confirm the title’s inclusion or explain how a second heavyweight champion would fit alongside Gassiev and Miller within its current rankings and mandatory structure.