Heavyweight boxing enters a new era after Usyk vacates his belts. Here's where they're all headed

Heavyweight boxing is entering a new era after Oleksandr Usyk’s decided to stand down as unified champion and sent his belts to different parts of the world.

That's given a bunch of globally unheralded fighters the chance to emerge from the shadows in the sport's glamor division.

Usyk recently vacated his WBA, IBF and WBC heavyweight world titles “ahead of stepping into the ring for my final fight” — without saying who that “last dance,” as he put it, would be against.

“I want to make them available,” the unbeaten Ukrainian said of his belts, “so the guys who are next in line can fight for them.”

So, who are they?

Here’s a look at where the belts are headed in a division that has been blown wide open as Usyk — the dominant heavyweight force for the last five years — takes a new direction and established stars like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury are seemingly in the twilight of their careers.

Agit Kabayel didn’t even have to fight to become world champion.

The 33-year-old German was recognized as the new WBC champion last weekend, his ascension capping a steady rise in his 15-year undefeated professional career.

Over the past few years Kabayel has collected various regional heavyweight titles — European, Continental Americas, Mediterranean — amid a run of 27 straight wins. Now he has been gifted the big one before fight No. 28.

He had been the interim WBC champ since February 2025, when he knocked out Zhilei Zhang.

Kabayel, born in Leverkusen to Kurdish parents, is the first German heavyweight champion since Max Schmeling in 1932 and says he’ll “fight with everyone.”

The WBA has yet to officially comment since Usyk’s announcement.

If it follows the WBC’s lead, then the upgraded champion would by Murat Gassiev, a 32-year-old Russian who has been serving as ‘regular’ champion for the past year while Usyk has been the ‘super’ champion.

Gassiev, who Usyk beat in 2018 to unify the cruiserweight division, jumped up to heavyweight in 2020 — soon after Usyk did the same — and has won seven of his eight fights, losing only to Otto Wallin.

Like Kabayel, he has yet to fight a standout name as a heavyweight. He was, though, a star of the cruiserweight division as a two-belt champion before falling to Usyk by a unanimous decision.

Gassiev knocked out Kubrat Pulev in December for his biggest heavyweight win to date and will seek a 34th pro victory when he takes on Tony Yoka of France in Moscow on July 11.

On Tuesday, the IBF wished Usyk “continued success in the pursuit of his future endeavors” and ordered its No. 1-ranked contender, Frank Sanchez of Cuba, to negotiate with Britain’s Moses Itauma for a title fight.

They have until July 29 to reach an agreement, the IBF said.

Itauma, a 21-year-old southpaw regarded as a future star of British boxing, is slated to fight Filip Hrgovic of Croatia in London on Aug. 29 in London after turning heads in March with his brutal knockout of Jermaine Franklin Jr.

The 33-year-old Sanchez, who has won 26 of his 28 pro fights, has fought only once since February 2025 — a second-round knockout of Richard Torrez Jr. on the Usyk-Verhoeven undercard.

Usyk is coming off a victory over Dutch kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in a fight in Egypt that signaled the unified champion’s career might be veering off in another direction.

Where, though?

“This is a well-considered decision that I am confident will open new opportunities for me,” said Usyk, who has been proud to represent Ukraine during the four years since Russia launched its all-out invasion of its neighbor.

“This is not the end of the story. The continuation lies ahead.”

Usyk hasn’t lost any of his 25 professional fights across the cruiserweight and heavyweight divisions. He has been an undisputed champion in both — twice as a heavyweight, after stepping up to that category in 2019.

Usyk’s camp appears to have ruled out completing a trilogy of fights against Fury, with Sergey Lapin, chief executive of Usyk’s promotional company Ready To Fight, telling British broadcaster Sky Sports: “I don’t really see much point in it. Oleksandr has already beaten Tyson Fury twice.”

So what of Fury, the former WBC champion who lost to Usyk in back-to-back unification fights in 2024?

The brash Brit has embarked on another comeback, having beaten Arslanbek Makhmudov in April and set up a fight on July 24 against former world title challenger Mariusz Wach in Pattaya, Thailand.

The 37-year-old Fury says that marks "the start of a huge second half of the year for me” — one which is expected to include a long-awaited showdown with Joshua in an all-British, non-title bout.

They have yet to fight each other despite a number of attempts to arrange a money-spinning meeting.

Joshua — a two-time heavyweight champion — also is on the comeback trail after being involved in a car crash in Nigeria in December that killed two of his friends and saw him sustain minor injuries.

The 36-year-old Joshua will fight Kristian Prenga on July 25 in what's also being viewed as a tune-up ahead of a bout with Fury.

AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports

FILE - Anthony Joshua reacts after defeating Jake Paul in their heavyweight boxing match, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

FILE - Ukraine's Wladimir Klitschko, right, and Britain's Tyson Fury, left, exchange blows as Fury wins the world heavyweight title fight for Klitschko's WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts in the Esprit Arena in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

FILE - Britain's Moses Itauma, left, lands a blow on Australia's Demsey McKean in their heavyweight boxing fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

FILE - Russia's Murat Gassiev reacts after winning the IBF cruiserweight title bout against Russia's Denis Lebedev in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, File)

FILE - Germany's Agit Kabayel reacts after beating Cuba's Frank Sanchez during their Heavyweight boxing fight, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, May 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco, File)

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Mourners gathered Wednesday in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore to bury 14 schoolchildren who were killed when the roof of a tutoring center collapsed on Tuesday.

Police are investigating whether negligence during ongoing construction work caused the collapse that left another eight children injured and hospitalized in stable condition.

Residents and preliminary police findings indicate the tutoring center was operating in an aging building. Investigators believe the unfinished roof of the second floor may have collapsed because of poor construction.

At least two people, including the building owner, were arrested as investigators tried to determine who was responsible, senior police official Kamran Faisal said, adding that negligence by the owner and construction workers appear to have caused the collapse.

“We are still investigating to determine exactly whose negligence resulted in this tragic incident,” Faisal said.

Funeral prayers for the children, who were up to 14 years old, began before dawn and continued through Wednesday morning. Most of the victims were buried in a local graveyard, while some families planned to take the bodies to their native towns for burial.

Ambulances transported the victims’ bodies overnight to their homes in Kahna, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Lahore. As the bodies were returned to their families, cries echoed through the neighborhood. Mothers and female relatives sat beside the bodies throughout the night while classmates and friends of the victims stood nearby in tears.

The funeral mourners Wednesday morning included Mohammad Ashfaq, a laborer whose 7-year-old son and nephew were killed in the collapse.

“I cannot express my pain and grief in words,” Ashfaq said through tears as relatives tried to comfort him.

Nearby, Muhammad Farooq mourned the loss of his young daughter.

“Yesterday she went to her tuition class at around 4 p.m.,” Farooq said. “Around 4:45 p.m., my family called me and said the roof of the tuition center had collapsed. They told me many children were trapped under the debris. Fourteen children were killed, and the injured were taken to the hospital.”

Local resident Mohammad Tahir said neighbors were the first to respond after the roof gave way.

“Rescuers arrived quickly, but before they reached us, neighbors rushed in with shovels and even dug through the debris with their bare hands,” Tahir said. “We also pulled children from the rubble, but many could not be saved.”

Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Structures are frequently built with substandard materials and safety regulations are sometimes ignored to reduce costs.

Grief has turned to anger for some people. Residents blamed the owner of the tutoring center for holding classes in what they described as an old and unsafe building despite ongoing construction and demanded strict punishment for those responsible.

“We don’t know whose funeral to attend first or whose home to visit first to offer condolences,” Tahir said.

Books, shoes and other stuff of victim children are seen at the site of Tuesday's roof collapse at a tutoring center roof, on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

People carry the bodies of children, who were killed in the roof collapse at a tutoring center that was under construction after a funeral prayer, on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

Women mourn around the bodies of their children, who were killed in the roof collapse at a tutoring center that was under construction on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

People carry the bodies of children, who were killed in a roof collapse at a tutoring center on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan after a funeral prayer Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Women mourn around the bodies of their children, who were killed in the roof collapse at a tutoring center that was under construction on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 1, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)