It’s clear that Oleksandr Usyk wants nothing more from the sport than a chance to become the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.
As fans are well aware, just one man stands in his way – Tyson Fury. Despite talk of a December fight between the two amounting to nothing, there’s still a positive feeling about it taking place early next year. Should Fury come through his winter warm-up against Derek Chisora – which most expect him to – Usyk will be waiting.
Speaking to the PA News Agency, as reported by Sky Sports, the Ukrainian Champion provided the ideal date for his meeting with ‘unpredictable’ Fury.
“Right now my team is seeking conversations with Tyson Fury and he is really an unpredictable person so we can’t guarantee when.”
“For me, the idea would be to fight maybe early February or beginning of March, like 4 March, because I am an orthodox Christian. During the great fasting before Easter I do not fight, so it should be all before or then after orthodox Easter [16 April].”
“I want to fight with Fury because I need the fourth belt and I don’t want to fight with anyone else until I have the fourth belt.”
As for the location, there’s no surprise that Usyk would like the fight in his home country of Ukraine. Given the ongoing Russian invasion and the uncertainty it brings with it, it may be wishful thinking – not to mention the pot of money being offered by oil-rich countries.
“The organisers are trying to figure out where they can earn more money. For me, yes I would really like to fight in Ukraine and Ukraine is really capable of hosting this kind of fight.”
“I would be really happy to see it happen in the Olympic Arena in Ukraine. But it is not me who chooses the venue so I guess it will be Saudi Arabia.”
Going by numbers of belts, many people may think that Team Usyk perhaps should be in the driving seat for negotiations, however that’s not how it tends to work in boxing, with draw and marketability being more important. If you ask ‘The Gypsy King’ he doesn’t need other fighters, but other fighters need him.
With that in mind, it’s hard to imagine accepting this fight as anything but the A-side, and we do know he likes a deadline or two, so whether or not Usyk will get his wishes remains to be seen.