One boxing legend thinks Oleksandr Usyk may have dodged a bullet by seemingly missing out on a fight with Deontay Wilder.
Usyk holds wins over the likes of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois, and was undisputed heavyweight champion before vacating his WBO belt late last year, but he still holds the WBC, WBA and IBF straps and is seen as the distant number one in the division.
Over the past month, it was heavily rumoured that Usyk could be set to defend his titles against Deontay Wilder, the former long-term WBC heavyweight champion who made 10 defences of the belt over five years from 2015 to 2020.
Wilder instead now looks set to take on Derek Chisora in April instead, and Hall of Fame inductee James Toney feels Usyk is lucky to not be sharing the ring with ‘The Bronze Bomber.’
Toney knows a thing or two about competing at heavyweight, defeating Evander Holyfield the banner division, and also claiming the WBA belt with a victory over John Ruiz, before losing the belt when the result was overturned due to a failed drugs test.
Toney is still a three-weight world champion at middleweight, super-middleweight and cruiserweight, and speaking to ESNews, he said that Wilder would knock out Usyk were they to meet.
“I’m telling you right now, if that fight happens, Wilder is going to knock him out. Usyk is a good fighter but he aint prepared for that, someone who is going to throw punches at him like that, he ain’t fought nobody like that yet.”
While an Usyk vs. Wilder fight isn’t set to happen next, should ‘The Bronze Bomber’ defeat Chisora he could still earn a shot at the Ukrainian, and it’s clear that Toney would heavily favour his countryman’s chances.
