Oleksandr Usyk faces many roadblocks in his quest to regain the undisputed cruiserweight title for a second time.
Before winning the Tyson Fury rematch, the Ukrainian superstar said he would consider returning to his ‘natural weight’ to become a three-time four-belt ruler. After defeating Fury, Usyk and his team went quiet on the subject, as a rematch with Daniel Dubois gathered steam as the preferred option.
Instead of moving down to cruiserweight and facing three titleholders to gather up the championships, Usyk would only have to beat Dubois again to obtain the three-time feat. Therefore, heading south to 200 pounds after cleaning out the weight class during the World Boxing Super Series seems unlikely.
Even if Usyk did drop the poundage needed, all three of the world cruiserweight champions have other opponents on their minds.
Usyk’s prospective cruiser foes are out of commission. Badou Jack [WBC] has been ordered to face mandatory Ryan Rozicki, and Jai Opetaia [IBF] is in talks with Gilberto Ramirez [WBA and WBO] about unifying the division. Ramirez also has a WBA order to fight Yuniel Dortios, leaving the Pound for Pound King at heavyweight. Usyk could soon have his own stipulation in the top division, too.
The winner of Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel will probably be Usyk’s next sanctioning body order, with Kubrat Pulev next in line with the WBA. Joseph Parker could be considered if he beats Dubois on February 22 as Usyk seeks to become a three-time undisputed champion.
World Boxing News exclusively reported that one final option would be Kevin Lerena at bridgerweight. The WBC champion told WBN he would offer Usyk a chance at the title in his home country of Ukraine.
“Yeah, I would give Usyk a shot – he’s the man who beat the man,” Lerena told WBN. “He is the face of boxing at the moment, so one hundred percent he could get a shot. He can do what he wants.
“Fight progress was leading to me defending my title in Ukraine in February, but the date has changed to late March now, which might not suit other possible plans due to other fight offers, but the Usyk fight has never been presented to me,” he added.
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Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN and Quora.