Oleksandr Usyk’s final few fights could include a surprise opponent.
That’s according to the Ukraine heavyweight king’s latest comments, in which he seemed willing to move on from a trilogy bout with Tyson Fury, providing ‘The Gypsy King’s own comeback against Arslanbek Makhmudov and a Battle of Britain versus Anthony Joshua.
The unified world boxing champion fights the kickboxing icon Rico Verhoeven at the Pyramids of Giza in a crossover spectacle Netflix will air on May 23.
And though he has already achieved an extraordinarily amount in unconventionally few fights, Usyk cleared the cruiserweight division and lapped three of the most prominent competitors at heavyweight, too.
Usyk indicated that, once he’s done with Verhoeven, he has two fights left before retirement — the Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois winner, and a third Fury fight.
This irked one fighter in particular.
A fighter omitted from Usyk’s list.
But a fighter who has been rising in the rankings.
That fight was Agit Kabayel , a 27-0 (19 KOs) pro with wins over Derek Chisora, Kevin Johnson, Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez, and Zhilei Zhang.
Usyk, for Kabayel when speaking to RTL/ntv and sport.de, said Usyk “is only interested in money; everything else is of no interest to him.”
“How can he not name the number one in the rankings, his mandatory challenger?”
“It’s just said he’d rather fight Dubois or Fury [for] a third time,” he added, as Boxing Social previously reported. “Even though he’s already beaten them both twice.”
Perhaps Usyk read Kabayel’s comments.
“Maybe I will fight Kabayel, maybe I don’t face Tyson Fury for a third time, and I fight Kabayel instead,” Usyk told the Daily Mail this week. “I only say my plan, but that is not set in stone.”
He added: “I understand the Agit fans are saying you must fight him. But I don’t have to fight him. I must live my life, I must look after my team, my children.
“Maybe it’s possible I fight Agit. He’s a great fighter, and he’s very smart,” Usyk finished.
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