Roy Jones Jr believes there are plenty of exciting fights to be made in the heavyweight division – perhaps none more so than Deontay Wilder facing Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk holds the WBA, WBO and IBF world titles following two consecutive wins over Anthony Joshua. His goal, as made clear by the man himself, is to add the WBC strap to his collection, thus becoming undisputed in two weight classes.
Unfortunately for the Ukrainian – and for fans – negotiations with the man who holds the belt, Tyson Fury, fell apart and any attempts to make it happen have been put on ice.
That leaves Usyk the dual tasks of keeping his titles and staying active. One man he’s said he’s interested in facing is former WBC champ, Wilder.
‘The Bronze Bomber’ held the title for half a decade before Fury returned from retirement to take it from him.
It’s by no means the end for the American though, who entertains every time he steps through the ropes with knockout power that some call the most impressive the sport of boxing has ever seen.
Jones Jr, a former four-weight world champion regarded widely as one of the best ever, told Boxing Social that if Usyk can handle that power, he wins. Tentatively, he believes he will.
“Usyk and Wilder is a good fight right now. I don’t know [who wins] – I think Usyk but it’s still a good fight. If he can take Wilder’s punch, I think Usyk wins the fight. It’s a great fight right now, we haven’t seen that yet.”
“We know it’s going to be action-packed.”
Talking about ducking and diving Wilder’s right hand is one thing, doing it is another. He has knocked out every man he’s faced other than Fury, who he knocked down four times over three fights.
Usyk is as slick as it gets, though, and his fans will be confident he can dodge or ride shots enough to box Wilder to a decision.
Fans – like ‘RJ’ – just want to see it happen.
