"Getting a few more of the world belts" - Oleksandr Usyk teases a return back down to cruiserweight
Oleksandr Usyk has his eyes set on even more world titles.
'The Cat' is fresh off his bout with Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia last month. The fight was a rematch of their prior encounter in September 2021 in the U.K. In that outing, Usyk walked into the Brit's home country and won easily by unanimous decision.
'AJ' showed significant improvements in the rematch. However, they weren't enough as Usyk won by split decision to retain his Heavyweight titles.
Prior to the rematch, it was presumed that the winner would face Tyson Fury next to crown the first Unified Heavyweight Champion in over two decades. However, it looks like the title unification bout won't be happening anytime soon.
Due to a nagging injury to the Ukrainian, 'The Gypsy King' began targeting a long-awaited showdown with Anthony Joshua. The bout has since fallen apart, and Fury is now preparing for a title defense against Mahmoud Charr instead.
As far as Oleksandr Usyk goes, he's since become the man to beat at heavyweight. Even with just one of the major titles between them, it appears all eyes are on Fury and Joshua.
That doesn't seem to bother Usyk, as he revealed in an interview with Parimatch. The 35-year-old only cares about earning more titles, and he's willing to move back down in weight to do it. He stated:
โI was thinking about returning to cruiserweight and getting a few more of the world belts.You know, being a heavyweight means you have to be really heavy. You must eat a lot. Itโs not hard to fight with these giants, but itโs really hard to eat all the time."
Who could Oleksandr Usyk fight at Cruiserweight?
In the event that Oleksandr Usyk moves down, there are many names he could face.
First and foremost, the 35-year-old could face Canelo Alvarez. The Mexican superstar has proposed a cruiserweight bout with Usyk in the past. For his part, the Ukrainian has stated he would be down for it.
Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ welcome a fight with Canelo at cruiserweight ๐ https://t.co/n5zHvjzlkb
However, it seems that 'The Cat' has his eyes on gold, and the Mexican superstar doesn't have any gold in that weight class. If it's the championships that Usyk wants, there's four possible men for him to fight.
Ilunga Makabu, Jai Opetaia, Lawrence Okolie, and Arsen Goulamirian are all champions at cruiserweight. To make things sweeter, despite competing at the weight class in the past, Usyk's never fought any of the current champions.
For those who don't know, Oleksandr Usyk is a former Unified Cruiserweight Champion.
The night Oleksandr Usyk came to the UK to defend his WBC, WBA, IBF & WBO Cruiserweight titles.
Usyk slips into third gear and stops the fight.
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