Former WBC light heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk has joined Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing in the supposed twilight of his career. The Ukrainian, who has fought the likes of Adonis Stevenson, Artur Beterbiev, and David Benavidez, has told Boxing Social that Zuffa’s new approach to boxing suits his personality, despite losing to Radivoje Kalajdzic in his debut with the promotion.
“They told me that they love me,” Gvozdyk said of Zuffa in an exclusive interview with Boxing Social. “They said that they love the boxing that I’m showing in my last fight. I was not running away, and I was trying to fight until the end. They have now been in touch with my manager, and they are looking for me to come back at the end of May or middle of June. I’ve requested a rematch against the same guy, but I don’t know if they are going to approve it or not.”
Gvozdyk (21-3, 17 KOs) joined the action on Zuffa’s second promotion on February 1 against Serbia’s Kalajdzic. Despite knocking his opponent down in the first and fourth rounds, Kalajdzic made a dramatic comeback to claim a stoppage victory in the seventh.
“What can I say,” Gvozdyk remembered. “I was controlling the fight and s**t happens! What can I do? I just try to keep going and analyze the mistakes and analyze what happened. I definitely feel like he deserved this win, but I feel like I definitely deserve the rematch after a fight like this. I’m ready to prove that it was just a lucky punch, or not.”
White has come out in the press to claim that he is “going to save boxing,” while rival promoters and governing bodies have not found Zuffa to be so collaborative. The inaugural Zuffa cruiserweight world title fight, including IBF champion Jai Opetaia and Brandon Glanton, saw the IBF refuse to sanction the contest due to Zuffa creating their own world title.
“It’s a little bit different here,” Gvozdyk explained. “The protocol is super strict. It’s quite a corporate system. For example, I used to be with Top Rank. At Top Rank, you have one person responsible for one task, but at Zuffa, you have five people responsible for one task. It’s like an army. It’s very strict in terms of them telling you what to do and what to wear, but I’m a very disciplined person and I have no problem with it.”
At 38 years old, with a reign as the WBC world champion under his belt, Gvozdyk doesn’t compare to much of Zuffa’s new roster of up-and-coming contenders.
“I wasn’t surprised when they came to me,” Gvozdyk added. “The majority of the fighters are going to be young and just starting their careers, but they also need some more experienced fighters like me. I saw the news that they were trying to sign Usyk. They just signed Opetaia, and he already became their champion. They obviously need more seasoned fighters to bring attention to their promotion.
“Opetaia is one gear in a whole mechanism. Zuffa fighters will have to prove to the boxing audience that they are legit and that the Zuffa championship is legit. Opetaia is the trailblazer, but there will be a bunch of people who will become champions and make the promotion big, in my opinion. Conor Benn is another gear in the mechanism.”
Gvozdyk isn’t currently ranked inside the top 15 of the four governing bodies, but a storied history with the WBC as its champion puts him within a victory of re-establishing himself. However, White and Zuffa appear to be moving well away from the traditional ranking systems.
“It didn’t bother me,” Gvozdyk said of Zuffa’s decision to diverge from the governing bodies. “I’m 38, right! If I had a lot of options, then maybe I would be, but I don’t have many options. They [promotions linked to IBF, WBA, WBC, and WBO] offered me to fight Kalajdzic for three times less than what Zuffa pays me. After my last fight, I didn’t speak to them much. I went to the hospital and then went home. I spoke to Zuffa a couple of weeks ago and told them I am ready. They said about May or June.
“Like I said, it is quite corporate and everyone is focused on their own tasks. I haven’t met Dana White, I saw him from a distance, but I saw him, he didn’t see me. I think they will use the same model they used in the UFC for boxing.”
Gvozdyk approaches his next fight needing a win, with two of his last three fights ending in defeat to Benavidez and Kalajdzic.
“I lost my last fight, but I don’t feel like I am defeated,” Gvozdyk added. “I feel like there was a big portion of luck in this situation. They said this was their tactics, but I don’t believe them, so prove me wrong. I don’t know many other fighters in the stable, and honestly, I don’t care.”
