Carl Frampton suspects Father Time is creeping up on Oleksandr Usyk, naming two heavyweights who he now believes could defeat the Ukrainian.
The 39-year-old produced a subpar performance against Rico Verhoeven last month, but nonetheless retained his WBC, IBF and WBA titles with an 11th-round stoppage.
Prior to the finish, Verhoeven had enjoyed considerable success for a man whose only previous boxing match, in 2014, saw him stop an 0-5 journeyman in round two.
The Dutchman was even ahead on one of the judges’ scorecards, only for Usyk to score an 11th-round knockdown before referee Mark Lyson drew a controversial halt.
Verhoeven had risen from the canvas, offering some form of defence, but was ultimately stopped on his feet immediately after the bell had sounded.
Usyk then revealed in his post-fight interview that, prior to stepping through the ropes, his daughter had phoned him from a bomb shelter in Ukraine.
The extent to which this impacted his performance, only he will know, yet many have nonetheless made up their minds that the three-time, two-division undisputed champion should call time on his illustrious career.
One man who would like to see him hang up the gloves is Frampton, who told Boxing Now that he would favour Agit Kabayel and Moses Itauma to beat this version of Usyk.
“When you’ve had the career and have been involved in boxing for the amount of years that Usyk has, then [Father Time] catches up on you.
“Going off that performance [against] Verhoeven, I would favour Kabayel. I would also favour Moses Itauma over him.”
While having ruled out a clash with Itauma, Usyk has been ordered to defend his WBC title against ‘interim’ champion Kabayel, who represents a likely next opponent.
