Oleksandr Usyk eying a return to cruiserweight after Tyson Fury rematch

Boxers rarely retire at the right time, but if Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury again on December 21, the perfect exit ramp from the sport awaits. Victory would make him a combined 5-0 against Fury, Anthony Joshua, and Daniel Dubois, leaving no uncertainty about his status as the best big man of the generation. One would think that there is little else to achieve.

“Is that real?” Scott asked incredulously. “That you would go undisputed cruiserweight, undisputed heavyweight, undisputed cruiserweight – you can do that?”

“Yeah, yeah, I try,” Usyk replied.

You never forget your first…weight class as a professional boxer? Undisputed championship? Given what this stated ambition would entail, it’s difficult not to share Scott’s skepticism, though he appropriately added, “well, I’m not gonna tell you you can’t, I’m not stupid.”

The cruiserweight titles are currently fractured, held by three different men: Gilberto “Zurdo” Ramirez (WBA, WBO), Jai Opetaia (IBF), and Norair Mikaeljan (WBC). Assuming none of them unify independently of Usyk, the lineal heavyweight champ is looking at three additional fights, minimum, if he is to collect all the spoils at cruiserweight once more.

At this moment, Usyk would enter fights with Ramirez, Opetaia, and Mikaeljan as the favorite, but time is not on his side. He hasn’t weighed in below 215lbs since he knocked out Tony Bellew in his most recent endeavor at cruiserweight in 2018. Though he is yet to show signs of slowing, he is also 37 years old. Cutting about ten percent of his body weight to mix it up with younger fighters in a weight class he hasn’t competed in for more than half a decade, and with a potentially grueling rematch with Fury ahead first, seems crazy. 

Then again, so would Usyk’s career trajectory to this point had he mapped it out for an interviewer back in 2014.