There has been plenty of movement in the heavyweight division in the last couple of years and that very much continues in the early part of 2024 as Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk all stay active.
Joshua very much has his eyes on the historic underused fight between Usyk and Fury on February 17 in Saudi Arabia. He has been all but promised the winner should he come through his own contest with Francis Ngannou on March 8.
He has of course already come up against Usyk twice, losing both times across 12 competitive rounds in 2021 and 2022 to surrender and then fail to win back his three world titles.
As he continues on his quest to become a three-time world champion, he must get through the big-hitting former UFC champion Ngannou to then be in with a shot at claiming all four bets against either Fury or Usyk.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he was asked who he thinks will be winning that mouth-watering clash.
“I don’t want to say, I don’t know.”
He was then pushed for an answer and favoured his former victor.
“Usyk. I think he does. He’s a really good fighter and I’ve never fought Tyson Fury until now, I’ve never fought him so I don’t know how good he is. Usyk I’ve fought on two different occasions and he fought differently in each. A good fighter knows how to adapt, so I think he will win.”
There will be many in the sport hoping for a Fury win so we get an all-British undisputed showdown, and fellow heavyweight Zhilei Zhnag is one man who thinks Joshua will come through his side of the semi-final with Ngannou.