What additional challenges are there on the market for unified two-weight king, present heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk, and what fights, if any, inspire Usyk himself? After having unified the cruiserweight and the heavyweight belts, Usyk has completed greater than sufficient to go down as an ideal, and the Ukrainian, who gave a lot weight away in his two fights with Tyson Fury particularly, now has the best to battle just about who he needs to battle.
However as we all know, Usyk loves a problem, he thrives on competitors, so don’t count on him to have interaction in any straightforward, or gimmie fights as he winds down, we expect anyway, his profession. How for much longer Usyk continues to battle can also be query.
Eddie Hearn, who noticed his man Anthony Joshua lose twice to Usyk, now says he very a lot likes the thought of reigning IBF cruiserweight champ Jai Opetaia preventing Usyk – both at cruiserweight or up at heavyweight, most likely the latter. Talking once more with IFL TV, Hearn stated that Usyk and Opetatia match up so, so nicely and it is a battle he would like to see.
First up, Australian southpaw Opetaia should come via towards unbeaten late alternative challenger David Nyika subsequent week, whereas as Hearn additionally factors out, Opetaia “has to earn his stripes.” However within the not too distant future we might probably see Opetaia problem Usyk.
“Usyk’s an outstanding fighter, he’s an all-time nice. Let’s give him his flowers. And what’s he gonna do now?” Hearn stated. “The one battle that I see, I imply, I like Opetaia towards Usyk. I simply suppose it’s such model match-up. However Jai’s received to earn his stripes as nicely for that battle, he’s received to win subsequent week after which he’s most likely received to unify towards [Gilberto] Ramirez. After which, when he steps up he’s gonna be capable to compete weight-wise. It’s an ideal battle, however he’s received to proceed to construct his profile. However I don’t see lots of fights that genuinely excite me for Usyk. He’s completed all of it. Who else is there for him to beat?”
Certainly it’s fascinating who Usyk will battle subsequent, who he will get a buzz out of the thought of dealing with, if anybody. We might get the Daniel Dubois rematch, if Dubois will get previous Joseph Parker in February, or if Parker wins, would possibly he battle Usyk? However the concept of Opetaia, at the moment 26-0(20) shifting up after cleansing out the 200 pound division after which preventing Usyk is sort of thrilling. However can Opetaia do it, and the way lengthy would it not take him to unify the cruiserweight division?
Who is aware of what sort of a timeframe Usyk is on so far as winding up his merely nice ring profession. However Usyk towards an unbeaten Opetaia, perhaps in Australia, would possibly simply be an fascinating sufficient battle to maintain Usyk within the recreation till the tip of 2025, or past.
