Fans got a little worried when news broke of how IBF WBA WBO heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk was ordered by the IBF to next face mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic. It was felt by plenty of people that this mandated fight would spoil the big Usyk-Tyson Fury four-belt unification showdown that was in the works for early next year. But Alex Krassyuk, who promotes Usyk, says he does not see any problems.
Speaking with Sky Sports, Krassyuk said he still expects Usyk to fight Fury next.
“At this stage I can anticipate that it will not influence the undisputed anyhow,” Krassyuk said of the ordered fight against Hrgovic. “We expect his next fight to be for the undisputed so most likely it will take place in the Middle East.”
It goes without saying that the unification clash is what the fans want to see. Yes, Hrgovic has earned his shot at the IBF belt, and Usyk has not fought an IBF mandatory in getting on for two years. Usually, a unification fight trumps a mandatory, but Eddie Hearn did say that immediate purse bids were called for and that the only way Filip Hrgovic would allow the Usyk-Fury fight to go ahead would be by stepping aside; this being something Hearn said Hrgovic, who he co-promotes, is not willing to do.
Maybe Hrgovic has had a change of heart, or something else has happened. In any case, Krassyuk isn’t worried, with him stating what he has said about the unification fight still being looked at as the next fight for Usyk. It is to be hoped Usyk-Fury does happen, with all four belts on the line. But it remains to be seen what Hrgovic and his team will do next.
In the meantime, Fury says he is “not counting any chickens” ahead of his December 3 fight with Derek Chisora. “Anything can happen” in heavyweight boxing, Fury said. It would, however, be a monumental upset if Chisora managed to defeat Fury at the third time of asking.