When lineal and unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk made an appearance at the Ring magazine awards Saturday in London, he was caught by a questioner as he appeared to be making his exit.
Usyk, seemingly eager to depart, was brief in his answers to Kugan Cassius of IFL TV, though he did give a detailed explanation of his footwear: a white shoe paired with a black sock on one foot and a black shoe over a white sock on the other.
And what of more important matters? Cassius, for instance, asked who would win a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, both of whom Usyk has beaten twice. The fight, long intended as a battle for the undisputed heavyweight championship, remains intriguing as a matchup of recent losers. Fury is the more skilled all-around fighter, but his deteriorating chin would likely make him more vulnerable to Joshua’s concussive punches than would have been the case in 2021.
“My friend Greedy Belly,” Usyk said, citing his oft-repeated nickname for Fury. “Maybe, I don’t know. Maybe Joshua.”
The initial answer comes as no great surprise. Though Usyk endured uncomfortable moments in both his fights with Joshua, particularly the eighth and ninth rounds of their rematch, he has repeatedly hailed Fury as his most difficult opponent. In their first fight, Fury had greater sustained success against Usyk from the third to seventh rounds than any previous Usyk foe. Though the rematch was a wider win for Usyk, he again had to overcome an early deficit on the scorecards.
With Joshua coming off a punishing loss to Daniel Dubois and Fury enduring losses to Usyk in his two previous fights, one would think that neither has enough to lose to put off making the fight any longer. Whether he fights Dubois again, Joseph Parker, cruiserweight Jai Opetaia (who has talked about moving up in weight) or someone else entirely, Usyk will surely put his rivalries with both Joshua and Fury behind him.
Owen Lewis is a former intern at Defector media and writes and edits for BoxingScene. His beats are tennis, boxing, books, travel and anything else that satisfies his meager attention span. He is on Bluesky.
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