Who will reigning WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk fight next – Tyson Fury or Deontay Wilder? These two fights are the big frontrunners as far as who and what will be next for the immensely skilled southpaw, and as we know, Usyk has expressed major interest in facing both guys. Usyk really wants the massive unification showdown with WBC champ Fury, but he did say that if he cannot get that fight, he would like to fight Wilder. Why – because it’s a “dangerous fight,” Usyk said.
Wilder returned to winning ways this past Saturday, as fans know; his chilling (no way it was a fix or anything of the kind – don’t even go there, you know better!) 1st round KO of Robert Helenius reminding us all again how brutally powerful Wilder really is; even when he’s moving backwards. At the post-fight presser, Wilder reminded Usyk to “be a man of his word”
Wilder says he hopes Usyk doesn’t avoid the fight, stating how “we will be calling his team.”
“I’ll be very surprised if he sticks to his word,” Wilder said of Usyk saying he wants to fight him. “I’m a man of my word. The last champion that came and said he would give me a fight, he went the other way after [I scored] a devastating knockout – we’re talking about Joseph Parker. So we’ll see what happens. I’m gonna keep Usyk to his word. We will be calling his team, whoever his handler is, and we’re gonna see what’s up. If he’s a man of his word, what a helluva fight it will be.”
Usyk is currently back in war-torn Ukraine, with his mind very possibly far away from boxing, yet when Usyk does get back into fight-mode (as in in the ring fight-mode), he will have to answer to Wilder’s call-out with either a yes or a no. If Usyk fights Fury next, okay, he gets all the respect in the world (as does Fury). But if not, there is one clear and obvious rival for Usyk to defend his three belts against. And who wouldn’t want to see Usyk Versus Wilder! As Wilder says, what a helluva fight it (could) be.