Oleksandr Usyk has called on Tyson Fury to come out of retirement.
The Ukrainian outpointed Anthony Joshua in their rematch on Saturday night at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk dethroned Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September and retained the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO titles via a split decision.
And the 35-year-old went on to say that an undisputed showdown with the aforementioned Fury, the WBC champion whose recently-relinquished Ring Magazine belt Usyk captured with victory over ‘AJ’, is something that will happen if ‘The Gypsy King’ comes out of retirement.
Usyk said:
“I’m sure that Fury is not retired yet. I’m convinced he wants to fight me.
“I want to fight him, but only God knows if I’m going to be undisputed or not.
Fury, who turned 34 just last week, revealed that he was once again heading away from the sport, but the majority around him, including Top Rank CEO Bob Arum who handles Fury’s affairs Stateside, believe the retirement will be short-lived.
And Usyk himself has stated that he will not box again if he doesn’t take on the undefeated Brit (32-0-1, 23 KOs) after moving to 20-0 with 13 quick finishes.
“If I’m not fighting Fury, I’m not fighting at all.
“All these gentlemen around me, my team, they’ll help me [to become undisputed].”
Fury may well be the WBC champion and may well have the only piece of real estate that doesn’t currently belong to Usyk, but he will have to make his mind up quickly as to whether he is going to return.
WBC president, Mauricio Sulaiman, revealed after Fury announced his retirement that the sanctioning body had handed him a deadline of August 26. By that date, Fury must confirm his exit from the game in writing before the status of the green and gold belt in the sport’s premier division will be considered.
But Eddie Hearn, Anthony Joshua’s promoter who was in the ring after his charge lost to Usyk a second time, is not convinced that the fight for all the baubles in the heavyweight division, particularly between Usyk and Fury, will happen any time soon.
He said:
“They’re both tremendous fighters. Fury is a clever man, he could’ve fought Usyk, but he chose not to.
“I don’t think anybody beats Usyk.”