Joseph Parker will get his long-awaited title shot one way or the other.

Gustavo Olivieri, president of the WBO, announced through his X account Thursday that the sanctioning organization has ordered a heavyweight title bout between undisputed champ Oleksandr Usyk and Parker, its interim champ and mandatory challenger. Olivieri also stated that the timing of their free negotiating period will be revealed soon.

New Zealand’s Parker was scheduled to fight Daniel Dubois for the IBF belt February 22 at ANB Bank Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but Dubois became ill during fight week and withdrew from their bout. Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) instead knocked out 11th-hour replacement Martin Bakole (21-2-1, 16 KOs) in the second round that night to win the WBO interim title.

Dubois-Parker was not rescheduled because Dubois secured a rematch with Usyk once he was healthy. Ukraine’s Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) knocked out London’s Dubois (22-3, 21 KOs) in the fifth round of their second bout last Saturday night at Wembley Stadium in London.

It isn’t clear if Usyk, ranked No. 1 on The Ring’s pound-for-pound list, will consider facing Parker next. Not boxing Parker could cost Usyk his WBO belt, but Tyson Fury and Turki Alalshikh have stated their interest in putting together a more lucrative third Usyk-Fury fight.

Usyk is the only opponent to defeat Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) in the brash Brit’s 16-year professional career.

The former undisputed cruiserweight champ beat Fury by spilt decision in their first fight 14 months ago at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh to become boxing’s first fully unified heavyweight champ of the four-belt era. Usyk won their 12-round immediate rematch by unanimous decision last December 21 at Kingdom Arena.

Parker (36-3, 24 KOs) has won six straight fights since London’s Joe Joyce (16-4, 15 KOs) knocked him out in the 11th round of their September 2022 bout at AO Arena in Manchester, England. In addition to defeating the hard-hitting Bakole, Parker, a former WBO champ, has beaten former champs Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang during his winning streak.

The Ring ranks Parker third among its heavyweight contenders for Usyk’s crown. Fury is The Ring’s No. 1-rated contender.