Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk says he would like to see him fight for the undisputed championship next following his 12-round unanimous decision win over Tyson Fury in their rematch on Saturday night.
They will have to wait for the winner of the Feb. 22 bout between IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker before starting negotiations for an undisputed championship contest with Usyk (23-0, 12 KOs).
Usyk says he’s open to any fight, and it’s up to Turki Alalshikh if he wants to fight the winner of Dubois-Parker. Oleksandr has no one to fight, and this would be a big one for him at heavyweight. He’s talked about wanting to move up to cruiserweight, but he’s not going to do that if he can get a bigger money fight against Dubois or Parker.
Usyk’s dominance
“It was a great performance. I’m really out of (words) for this reason. I don’t have much to say. It was a boxing encyclopedia,” said promoter Alex Krassyuk iFL TVThey talk about their fighter Oleksandr Usyk after his victory over Tyson Fury last Saturday night in Riyadh.
“In 12 rounds, he showed how boxing is done. So, he did it from the basement. He was laying the bricks. Putting the windows and the roof, and he created the building,” said Krassyuk about Usyk’s performance .
“We’ve been fighting in our opponents’ backyards since 2016. It’s nothing new for us. It’s a comfortable atmosphere. We’re used to it.
“Probably relax, recover his mind, and go back to training,” Krassyuk said when asked what Fury should do next. “He’s a great champion. It’s not about what I’d like to see. It’s about what the boxing world would like to see. If they’re happy to see this fight, it’s perfect.”
Fury is not retiring because he wants to fight Anthony Joshua, and you can understand that. There is a lot of money in it for him to face AJ, and it would help him redeem himself after losing back-to-back fights against Usyk.
“For me, I would like to see Usyk undisputed #3,” said Krassyuk, making it clear that he wants to see Usyk face the winner of the February 22 contest between IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker.
Turki Alalashikh also wants the undisputed fight between Usyk and the winner of Dubois vs. Parker, so there is no problem in making the fight happen as long as something unexpected happens. Anthony Joshua will not be a problem as he has shown no desire to fight a rematch with Dubois and knows better than to face Usyk a third time.
Fury’s beard controversy
“It’s not an issue that affects the outcome of the fight,” Krassyuk said when asked if Fury’s beard was a problem for them in this fight. “It’s just a formal thing to respect the rules or not. The rules say that the beard must be cut so that its volume does not affect the punch.
“Each organization has this, but it doesn’t clarify the specific length of the beard, and therefore, you can’t know the limit where it comes from legal to illegal,” said Krassyuk.
It’s impossible to know if Fury’s beard softened the impact of Usyk’s punches enough for him to avoid getting hurt or not. On a couple of occasions, Fury’s head went back, and his eyes rolled on the white when the hard blow from Usyk. Whether these shots would have done more damage if Fury had been clean shaven is unknown. You’d also like to see Fury shave.
What will be interesting to see is if Fury chooses to shave and not fight. If he does, you have to believe that he grew his beard to use as a defense to protect him from punches.
