Oleksandr Usyk gives up the absolute championship: sports review

Usyk without a fourth belt, a five-hour match between Chornomorets and a Ukrainian's triumph in Japan. Read more about these and other events in the digest of sports events from Intent.

Boxing. Usyk is no longer the WBO champion

• This week it became known that Oleksandr Usyk will not defend his WBO world title against British Fabio Wardley, who defeated Joseph Parker in a fight for the title of interim champion and mandatory challenger. Thus, Wardley went from interim to full-fledged champion, and Usyk retains the WBA, IBF and WBC belts.

Alexander Usyk with the WBO belt. PHOTO: Reuters

• Usyk's team director, Serhiy Lapin, said that Oleksandr vacated the belt to give young fighters the opportunity to fight for it. According to Wardley's promoter, Frank Warren, Usyk simply did not want to defend himself in 2025, and may plan his next fight for early 2026.

Sergey Lapin and Oleksandr Usyk. PHOTO: Ready to FIght

• It will be recalled that Usyk was supposed to defend his title back in October, but received a medical postponement, the appropriateness of which was disputed by his potential rivals after a video of Oleksandr dancing at a charity event appeared online.

Games and results

Luifer Hernandez. PHOTO: FC Chornomorets

• "In their last home match, Chornomorets convincingly defeated Podillia Khmelnytskyi. Ivan Kohut, Giorgi Robakidze, and Luifer Hernandez scored twice for Odesa . In addition to the events on the field, this match had all the reflections of life in modern Odesa: immediately after Kohut's goal, an air raid alarm began, which delayed the match for three hours, and at some point the lights went out at the stadium. Despite all this, the match was successfully completed.

Standings of the First League. SCREEN SHOT: pfl.ua

• "The Seasters lost to the reigning champions, Vorskla Poltava, in a home match and dropped out of the 1/4 finals of the Ukrainian Cup.

The match between Bukovynka and Dobrodiy. PHOTOS: SC "Balta"

• "Balta twice defeated Dobrodiy from Vinnytsia in home matches, on Saturday the Baltimore team had 4 sets, in Sunday's match the game went to the decisive fifth game.

The match between Frankivsk and Interchem. PHOTOS: fbu.ua

• "Interchem in Frankivsk was defeated twice by the hosts from Prykarpattia. Despite the defeat, it is worth noting the impressive statistics of Odesa's Diana Bondariuk in the second game - 22 points and 21 rebounds.

Denys Savaryn, Odesa. PHOTO: Ukrainian Handball

• "In the matches of the fifth round of the Superleague, Odesa gave no reason to doubt the status of the favorites, defeating Khmelnytskyi twice. The Odesa team is in second place, behind only the perennial leader of Ukrainian handball, Zaporizhzhia's Motor, which is undefeated.

The match between Odesa and Sokil. PHOTOS: HC Sokil Kyiv

• Representatives of Odesa did not succeed on the hockey rinks either. " Storm lost to Sokol in a relatively even game with a reduced lineup (only 13 field players), while Odeschyna was defeated by the reigning champions Kremenchuk and Sokol.

Events of the week.

• Ukrainian Danylo Yavhusyshyn (Aonishiki) won the most prestigious award in the world of sumo - the Emperor's Cup.

Aonishiki and the Emperor's Cup. PHOTO: KYODO

• The Vinnytsia resident won 12 victories in 15 bouts at the Kyushu Basho tournament, and in the decisive one defeated yokozuna Hoshoryu. This is the first such success for a Ukrainian athlete since independence.

Oleksandra Oliynykova. PHOTO: btu.org.ua

• Oleksandra Oliynykova continues her successful tour of South America. The winner of the WTA125 tournament in Tucumán , Argentina, reached the final of the tournament of the same level in Colina, Chile. The title match will take place on Monday night, but it is already safe to say that Oleksandra will break into the top 100 of the WTA rankings due to this success.

The Ukrainian national chess team. PHOTO: Ukrainian Chess Federation

• Ukraine 's women's chess team scored 2 points in 5 rounds and did not leave the team World Championship group. Natalia Zhukova from Odesa scored 1 point out of 3 possible.

Traditionally, we wish you and your favorite athletes and teams good luck!

Адлен Муатс