Having expressed a keen interest in fighting the winner, Oleksandr Usyk has delivered his final verdict on Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois.
The pair will headline a Queensberry Promotions pay-per-view card later today, with Wardley making the first defence of his WBO world title at Manchester’s Co-op Live Arena.
He was upgraded from ‘interim’ to full champion towards the end of last year, immediately after Usyk decided to vacate the belt rather than face his then-mandatory challenger.
Since then, though, the Ukrainian has included the winner of tonight’s intriguing clash in his three-fight plan, fully expecting to defeat kickboxer Rico Verhoeven on May 23.
He has, of course, already faced Dubois on two separate occasions, both encounters ending inside the distance as Usyk proved a level or two above.
The latest of these relieved Dubois of his IBF title last July, while also ending an impressive run of stoppages over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and Anthony Joshua.
It would therefore be of more interest, from both an Usyk and a fan perspective, for the heavyweight king to face Wardley after their respective outings this month.
Perhaps this is partly why the 39-year-old is backing Wardley this weekend, telling BBC Sport that he expects his former sparring partner to retain his WBO title.
“I think Wardley win. I want Fabio win because I think he deserves to win this fight. Good guy – I like him.”
While Wardley, too, is eager for their potential showdown to materialise later this year, Usyk is facing pressure to address his WBC mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel following his fight with Verhoeven later this month.
