Oleksandr Usyk willing to fight Canelo Alvarez at cruiserweight

By Michael Collins - 12/13/2021 - Comments

Oleksandr Usyk says he’s willing to come down to cruiserweight to fight Canelo Alvarez as long as he’s allowed to keep his heavyweight titles.

The way that Usyk casually says he’ll return to cruiserweight to fight Canelo, he sounds like someone that is going to a local grocery store to pick up a loaf of bread.

It’s like it would be a mundane task for Usyk to drop down to cruiserweight to beat the brakes off Canelo and then return to heavyweight to send Anthony Joshua into retirement with a second one-sided win over the British fighter.

There was no hint of stress or worry on Usyk’s face when he said he’d be willing to come down to cruiserweight to accommodate Canelo for a fight.  Usyk knows beating the 5’8″ Canelo would be a piece of cake.

The former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk vacated his titles in that weight class in 2019 when he moved up to heavyweight.

Suppose the prerequisite for Usyk getting a fight against Canelo is to own a cruiserweight strap to use as bait to entice the Mexican star. In that case, the unbeaten 2012 Olympic gold medalist doesn’t have anything Alvarez would want other than prestige.

Canelo (57-1-2, 39 KOs) is interested in moving up to cruiserweight in seeking a fifth division world title against WBC champion Ilunga Makabu. However, it’s still not 100% certain that Canelo will do that because he may change his mind and go after the light heavyweight titles.

Oleksandr Usyk willing to fight Canelo Alvarez at cruiserweight

“Canelo is a handsome man. If he wants to box with me at cruiserweight, then I can go down there. But on condition that I still have my heavyweight belts because I’ll go back there later,” said Usyk to Fighthype when asked if he’d be willing to fight Alvarez at cruiserweight.

If Canelo wants respect from the boxing public for him going up to cruiserweight, he’ll get a lot more of that if he takes on Usyk rather than WBC paper champion Ilunga Makabu.

There’s no question that fans of this and future generations will give Canelo a lot more respect if he faces Usyk than the obscure cruiserweight champion Makabu, who Tony Bellew destroyed in four rounds in 2016.

For those who don’t remember Bellew, he’s the guy Usyk knocked out in 2018 in an eighth round stoppage. Usyk looked like he carried Bellew to the eighth round and decided to get him out of there after the British fighter landed a couple of hard punches that woke him up.

The unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) is expected to face former champ Anthony Joshua in a rematch in the first quarter of 2022.

Boxing fans want Joshua to avoid fighting Usyk again because they fear that he’s going to get embarrassed even worse than he did last September, and they don’t want him to be sent into retirement on a losing note.

Unfortunately, Joshua is being stubborn about it and is heading into oblivion. Ultimately, Joshua will find his destiny. Don’t look for it, Joshua. You may not like what you find.

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11 thoughts on “Oleksandr Usyk willing to fight Canelo Alvarez at cruiserweight”

  1. Many of the same reasons you may not want to fight Deontay Wilder are why canelo won’t fight Oleksandr Usyk.

  2. Oleksandr Usyk What are you going to do when fury spikes your water like he did klitschko and Deontay Wilder and God only knows who else.

  3. Oleksandr Usyk, what are you going to do if you fight fury and his fingers are clearly visible through the leather like he did against the greatest heavyweight champion that ever lived without question Deontay Wilder?

  4. Only eggweight loaded floppy gloves and bare knuckle cheating could beat Deontay Wilder.

  5. What will Oleksandr Usyk do if these fighters canelo and fury test positive before they fight him. rivas didnt know Dillian Whyte tested positive until way after the loss. And the loss was never reversed. Remember the a sample and the b sample?

  6. Canelo walks around at around 210. His Mexican boxing style and training is what makes Canelo shine. He lacks though, a proven drug cheats and contract manipulator. He is not about to meet with Oleksandr Usyk at cruiser weight. Even though it would be a high paying fight.

  7. Oleksandr Usyk is much too technically sound fighter. Too much reach and strength and conditioning and speed.

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