Oleksandr Usyk recently reiterated his desire to face Deontay Wilder next. Tyson Fury, who has faced both with very different results, has weighed in on the plans.
Usyk became undisputed for a second time this year when he stopped Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium. With his legacy cemented, he opted to vacate the WBO belt rather than face mandatory challenger Fabio Wardley in pursuit of a more high profile fight.
He believes he has found that in Wilder, who, despite being inactive and apparently past his powerful best, is one of the biggest names in the heavyweight generation that will soo come to a close.
Speaking to DAZN Fight Club in an interview focused on friend and sparring partner Agit Kabayel, Fury recognised Usyk’s Wilder plans as a way to have a high profile fight.
“Agit’s [WBC] interim champion, so they should force Usyk to either defend or vacate. Me personally, I don’t think Usyk’s gonna fight anybody in those WBC rankings, because it doesn’t make any commercial sense. There’s no money in them fights. Is he gonna get paid for fighting Agit Kabayel? Is he gonna get paid for fighting Lawrence Okolie? No.
“When you’ve fought Tyson Fury and had GK money, you’re not going back down to fight anybody else for f–k all. So I can’t see Usyk defending against any of those names. That’s why he’s looking to fight a Wilder, or somebody with a popular name with a following. So, just like he vacated the WBO, he must vacate the WBC, and Agit will be upgraded to world champion. He can defend against the winner of [Lawrence] Okolie and [Moses] Itauma.”
Despite Fury’s insistence that Usyk will vacate the WBC belt, the sanctioning body has granted the great Ukrainian a voluntary defence and said Wilder, who was their champion for almost half a decade but is currently not ranked in the top 15, is an eligible opponent.
