Oleksandr Usyk will be ordered to face Daniel Dubois after a deadline passed for the Ukrainian to agree a deal with Tyson Fury.
Heavyweight champions Fury and Usyk were in talks to meet at Wembley on April 29 but constant delays to their negotiations put the fight in jeopardy. Fury's promoter Frank Warren had insisted the undisputed clash had to be agreed on by Friday night but with no agreement in place, the highly-anticipated fight is now seemingly dead in the water.
And the WBA confirmed they will force Usyk to open talks with mandatory challenger Dubois. In a tweet, the organisation said: "The Championships Committee had ordered Usyk-Dubois but this was vacated to give priority to Usyk-Fury. The deadline expired last Friday and an extension was granted until today at 5 p.m. Therefore, at the end of this period, the combat between Usyk and Dubois will be ordered."
