Oleksandr Usyk has just made a statement about his career that has shocked many fans, even though the highly anticipated rematch with Tyson Fury is still ahead…
There are still more than six months left until the legendary rematch with Tyson Fury, which will determine the holder of the most prestigious heavyweight boxing titles. However, yesterday, Oleksandr Usyk left many people shocked when he revealed his future career plans.
Usyk (left) recently shared his future career plans, even though the rematch with Tyson Fury is still ahead.
After defeating Tyson Fury by decision on May 19, Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in the four-belt era, holding the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO titles. Therefore, the rematch, Fury-Usyk 2, scheduled for December 21 this year, will be a fight for the 37-year-old Ukrainian boxer to defend his throne.
It’s unclear how the Tyson Fury vs. Usyk 2 rematch will unfold in six months, but it could potentially be “Usyk’s final fight in the heavyweight division.”
Indeed! In an interview on the “3 Knockdown Rule” podcast yesterday, Usyk made this shocking statement. “I think that after the rematch with Fury, I may lower my weight to return to fighting in the cruiserweight division.”
“I could become the undisputed champion in the cruiserweight division for the second time. That has always been a plan in my mind. In the heavyweight division, every time I enter training camp to prepare for a fight, I have to eat, eat, and eat a lot. For me, it’s very difficult.”
Usyk is almost always outmatched in height and weight when fighting in the heavyweight division, especially against larger opponents like Fury or Anthony Joshua.
It is known that after leaving amateur boxing to turn professional, Usyk first achieved his initial titles in the cruiserweight division, also known as the light heavyweight division (under 90.7 kg).
Usyk won the WBO cruiserweight world title for the first time in September 2016 after defeating Glowacki in Poland. Two years later, in July 2018, with a victory over Murat Gassiev, Usyk unified all four prestigious belts, as well as The Ring title, becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champion.
In fact, less than four months after that fight, Usyk successfully defended his belts by knocking out Tony Bellew (November 2018) in the eighth round. That was also his last fight before leaving all his prestigious belts behind to move up to the heavyweight division.
Usyk unified all four prestigious belts, along with The Ring title, becoming the undisputed cruiserweight champion before moving up to heavyweight and continuing to establish his legendary achievements.
Clearly, with a height of 1.90m and a weight that usually hovers around 100 kg, Usyk’s physique is still too… small for the heavyweight division.
For example, even after increasing his weight to 105.9 kg, the heaviest since he began his professional boxing career, Usyk still appeared “tiny” standing in front of Tyson Fury, who is 2.06m tall and had slimmed down to 118.8 kg for their title unification fight last month.
As he gets older, the forced weight gain seems to put Usyk at even more of a disadvantage. Therefore, returning to the cruiserweight division seems like a more reasonable plan, especially since Usyk still wants to stay at the top of the boxing world with the title of “undisputed champion.”
