What further challenges are there out there for unified two-weight king, current heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk, and what fights, if any, motivate Usyk himself? After having unified the cruiserweight and the heavyweight belts, Usyk has done more than enough to go down as a great, and the Ukrainian, who gave so much weight away in his two fights with Tyson Fury especially, now has the right to fight pretty much who he wants to fight.
But as we know, Usyk loves a challenge, he thrives on competition, so don’t expect him to engage in any easy, or gimmie fights as he winds down, we think anyway, his career. How much longer Usyk continues to fight is also a good question.
Eddie Hearn, who saw his man Anthony Joshua lose twice to Usyk, now says he very much likes the idea of reigning IBF cruiserweight champ Jai Opetaia fighting Usyk – either at cruiserweight or up at heavyweight, probably the latter. Speaking again with IFL TV, Hearn said that Usyk and Opetatia match up so, so well and this is a fight he would love to see.
First up, Australian southpaw Opetaia must come through against unbeaten late replacement challenger David Nyika next week, while as Hearn also points out, Opetaia “has to earn his stripes.” But in the not too distant future we could possibly see Opetaia challenge Usyk.
“Usyk’s a phenomenal fighter, he’s an all-time great. Let’s give him his flowers. And what’s he gonna do now?” Hearn said. “The only fight that I see, I mean, I love Opetaia against Usyk. I just think it’s such a good style match-up. But Jai’s got to earn his stripes as well for that fight, he’s got to win next week and then he’s probably got to unify against [Gilberto] Ramirez. And then, when he steps up he’s gonna be able to compete weight-wise. It’s a great fight, but he’s got to continue to build his profile. But I don’t see a lot of fights that genuinely excite me for Usyk. He’s done it all. Who else is there for him to beat?”
Indeed it is interesting who Usyk will fight next, who he gets a buzz out of the idea of facing, if anyone. We could get the Daniel Dubois rematch, if Dubois gets past Joseph Parker in February, or if Parker wins, might he fight Usyk? But the idea of Opetaia, currently 26-0(20) moving up after cleaning out the 200 pound division and then fighting Usyk is quite exciting. But can Opetaia do it, and how long would it take him to unify the cruiserweight division?
Who knows what kind of a time-frame Usyk is on as far as winding up his simply great ring career. But Usyk against an unbeaten Opetaia, maybe in Australia, might just be an interesting enough fight to keep Usyk in the game until the end of 2025, or beyond.
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