Oleksandr Usyk will have one less mandatory challenger to worry about in the coming year.

The Ring has confirmed that Joseph Parker will be relieved of his interim WBO heavyweight title. The former full beltholder is due to challenge IBF titlist Daniel Dubois on Feb. 22 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and his secondary title reign will come to an end once he enters the ring, regardless of the final result.

“We do not allow an interim champion to unify with a full champion from another organization,” WBO president Gustavo Olivieri told The Ring. “The WBO will allow Parker to enter the ring and be announced as interim champion.

“However, once the bell rings signifying the commencement of the fight, the title shall be declared vacant automatically.”

Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs) and Parker (35-3, 23 KOs) are The Ring's No. 2 and No. 3 heavyweight contenders, respectively.

Parker won the interim WBO belt after a twelve-round, majority decision over The Ring's No. 4 contender Zhilei Zhang (27-2-1, 22 KOs) last March 8 in Riyadh. It was believed at the time—and again later in the year—that he would be groomed for a shot at the Usyk-Tyson Fury winner once their two-fight series was done.

Ukraine’s Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) beat England’s Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs), The Ring's No. 1 contender, on May 18 to defend The Ring heavyweight championship and fully unify the WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO titles. He has since relinquished the IBF belt, which was claimed by England’s Dubois first as an interim belt after a June 1 eighth-round knockout of Filip Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KOs).

The Londoner was upgraded to full titlist a few weeks later when Usyk agreed to make the belt available for Dubois’ planned showdown with Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs). Dubois won via fifth round knockout, after which he was steered towards a showdown with Parker atop the first full-fledged Riyadh Season show of 2025.

Neither the WBC nor WBA have yet called for Usyk’s mandatory title defenses. Kubrat Pulev recently claimed the WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight title—a secondary version of Usyk’s WBA ‘Super’ belt. The interim WBC title will be at stake between Zhang and Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs), The Ring No. 5 heavyweight contender, on the Dubois-Parker undercard.

Usyk has yet to declare his immediate in-ring plans. When he does, it will come against the opponent of his choosing, and not that of a sanctioning body.