Now that the whole tedious, it-should-have-been-an-easy-fight-to-make, Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk saga is over with (for now, perhaps for good), it’s time for Usyk – the man who carried himself as the real champion these past few months – to move on with his career. You will have your opinion on who is firmly to blame for the four-belt undisputed clash not taking place between Fury and Usyk, just as I have mine. As Eddie Hearn has said – “who do you believe?”
So Usyk moves on, his dream of fighting for undisputed status in a second weight division gone (again, for now, maybe permanently). Who Usyk fights next will of course prove interesting even if it’s not going to be Fury the way we all wanted it to be (all of planet earth barring one person wanted it, anyway).
Daniel Dubois is now in a good place, what with him being the WBA mandatory challenger, this the next mandatory Usyk must attend to. But though Dubois has thrown his hat firmly into the ring; telling Pitch Boxing how he “definitely 100 percent this is the time to get it on” wants the fight with Usyk next, we must wait and see if Dubois is medically cleared to fight. Dubois as fans know, seriously injured his knee in his fight with Kevin Lerena on December 3 (on the Fury-Chisora III card), and it was suggested he might be out until June time due to the injury.
Will Usyk be willing to wait that long? After all he’s just been through trying to negotiate a fight with a man who has shown he is arguably the hardest fighter to negotiate with in boxing history, it’s likely Usyk wants to fight ASAP. Deontay Wilder could be the man who steps in and provides Usyk with a fight that could be described as a super fight. If the WBA will comply, Wilder could fight Usyk next.
Wilder, via Shelly Finkel, said he would fight Usyk “in a heartbeat.” And we fans would pay to see it, too. No, it’s not a four-belt, history-in-the-making fight between two unbeaten heavyweight champions who are reasonably close to their peak, but Usyk Vs. Wilder is a truly fascinating fight. A fight that would perhaps go some way towards lifting disappointed fight fans out of the dark place they have been left languishing in.
Usyk has shown he will fight all comers, and the Ukrainian did express interest in a fight with Wilder just after Wilder had returned to pole-axe Robert Helenius. Again if it’s approved by the WBA, it could be Usyk-Wilder next. Failing that, if the WBA insist Dubois gets his shot and next, Usyk will be going in with another big puncher.
No disrespect to Dubois, but a Usyk-Wilder fight is far more attractive, with a much bigger X-factor. Talk about a classic Boxer Vs. Puncher showdown.
