There should be only one. But the road to the undisputed championship in modern heavyweight boxing is labyrinthine, littered with pitfalls, stumbling blocks, and the hardest punchers on the planet.

At least we know who the best heavyweight in the world is. Oleksandr Usyk has proven himself to be the preeminent fighter in the division after beating Tyson Fury twice as well as holding two victories over Anthony Joshua and a previous win over Daniel Dubois.

But he’s not the only man in the division to hold a belt.

Who are the champions?

Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk is the unified heavyweight world champion. The Olympic gold medallist became an undisputed champion first at cruiserweight. He began his heavyweight title reign when he outpointed Anthony Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2021, picking up the WBO, WBA and IBF championships. He defended those belts in a rematch with Joshua and his victory over Daniel Dubois.

That set him up for his momentous undisputed title clash last year with Tyson Fury, then the WBC heavyweight titlist. Usyk shook Fury badly in the ninth round and won a split decision.

That saw Usyk become the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 and the first of the four-belt era.

Contracted for a rematch, Usyk took a unanimous decision win over Fury in their second fight in December.

By then though Usyk had been forced to shed a belt. His commitment to the Fury rematch meant he could not make a mandatory defence of the IBF title. He vacated and Dubois was elevated to full IBF world champion without throwing a punch.

Dubois though validated his status as a world champion when he brutally knocked out Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium last September.

On July 19 he returns to Wembley to box Usyk in a second undisputed heavyweight title fight in consecutive years.

Who will win?

Usyk has fought Dubois before and stopped him in their ninth round. Former world champion and Sky Sports pundit George Groves gave his prediction: “From what I’ve seen of Usyk I still think he looks pretty fresh and pretty good, on it and switched on. A Usyk who’s still at the top of his game beats the very best Dubois in my opinion.

“Maybe he gets old at one point and maybe he’s not quite on it and maybe Dubois, who is confident, makes those improvements, [is] a solid force, might do something.

“I think he [Usyk] is still there and if he’s still there, I think he beats Dubois.”

Heavyweight contender Fabio Wardley has a keen professional interest in the bout. He told Sky Sports: “I find it very hard to bet against [Usyk]. I do nine times out of 10 back the Brit, I always want to see a Brit win, I always want to see the belts come back to home soil.

“But the form he’s in, the way he goes about his work, he just seems a bit undeniable at the moment.

“He’s on some sort of mission that just won’t be stopped, won’t be derailed. So one way or another I think he always finds a way.”

Who will the winner fight next?

A mandatory defence of the WBO heavyweight belt is due next, with Joseph Parker in line for that shot. The winner of the Usyk-Dubois rematch would either have to fight New Zealand’s Parker next or vacate the WBO belt.

Parker has been on a great run of form, beating both Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang to become the WBO Interim titlist. He was due to challenge Dubois for the IBF championship but when Dubois fell ill, mere days before the bout, Parker knocked out short-notice replacement Martin Bakole.

Will Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury return?

All the signs are that former champions Joshua and Fury intend to return to competition at the top end of the heavyweight division.

Joshua hasn’t boxed since his heavy defeat to Dubois. The idea of a Dubois rematch, boldly floated in the immediate aftermath of the first fight, has faded but Joshua’s hopes of boxing his great rival Fury were hit when, at the start of this year, Fury declared he would retire.

But Fury has since indicated he wants to box again, though stated that his preference is for a trilogy bout with Usyk in 2026.

Joshua has not yet set an opponent for his next bout, but is likely to box again before the end of the year.

Who are the other heavyweight contenders?

To keep highly ranked heavyweights active the world title sanctioning bodies have created a slew of secondary belts, that in effect help decide their mandatory contenders.

The over-generous WBA have a ‘regular’ heavyweight champion in Kubrat Pulev, an Interim titlist in Fabio Wardley as well as their full or ‘super’ champion Usyk.

Agit Kabayel holds the WBC’s Interim strap, but a WBC mandatory challenger has not yet been set.

The IBF have ordered Frank Sanchez to face Efe Ajagba in an eliminator, with the winner becoming mandatory challenger for their heavyweight title.

Who is the heavyweight to watch?

Britain has a fast rising star in Moses Itauma. Still only 20, the young heavyweight had a fearsome reputation as an amateur at Youth and Junior level. He sparred fighters like Anthony Joshua and Lawrence Okolie when he was just schoolboy himself.

He’s blazed through his professional opposition so far, dazzling for instance when he took out Demsey McKean in just under two minutes on the undercard of the Usyk-Fury rematch. He aims to prove himself later this summer when he fights former world title challenger Dillian Whyte.