What will prove to be unified, four-belt heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk’s next move? Will Usyk, who looked as great as ever last night in seemingly effortlessly dismantling and taking down Daniel Dubois inside five one-sided rounds, fight on? The thought, or the hope as far as Dubois supporters were concerned, was that, going into the fight at Wembley, Usyk, at age 38, would show some wear and tear in the ring.
Who Fights Oleksandr Usyk?
There was not a bit of it; Usyk instead looked as fast, as accurate, and as powerfully clever as he ever has, if not more so. And it could be that Usyk, now 24-0(15) could fight another two, three, even four more times. But is there anyone out there right now that would be given a real shot at defeating Usyk?
Tyson Fury says he wants a third go at Usyk, but do we really want to see a trilogy fight between the two? Of more interest, surely, would be a young gun going in there with Usyk, say an Agit Kabayel and/or a Joseph Parker. Both Kabayel and Parker are well-ranked, and they have both earned a shot. Now, it will be Usyk as far as which mandatory he will perhaps agree to.
Retired heavyweight great Lennox Lewis is very much in favour of seeing New Zealand’s Parker get the next crack at Usyk. Speaking with DAZN, Lennox said that while he “doesn’t see anyone in the division beating [Usyk] right now,” he gives Parker the best chance to pull it off.
Parker: Usyk’s Next Challenger?
“I think Joseph Parker has the best chance right now,” Lewis said. “I think they’ve been freezing Parker out. Joseph Parker needs that next fight, so get him in there. Joseph Parker has been waiting for his chance. I don’t know why he hasn’t had it yet. I think he should be the next fight.”
Parker, 36-3(24) certainly has the credentials needed to be looked at as a legit challenge for Usyk, and some experts do believe he has the right blend of size, physical strength, punching power, and ring IQ to be able to give Usyk a testing fight. But beat Usyk? Well, to ask the question again, can any heavyweight beat the southpaw from Ukraine? Usyk is, as we know, a warrior who doesn’t look to duck or dodge anyone, so if fan interest is sufficient, if fan interest for a Usyk-Parker fight becomes fan-demanded stuff, Usyk will likely agree to fight the former WBO heavyweight champ.
But as of right now, we must wait and see what Usyk will want to do next.