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Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk says he would like to see him fit for the undisputed championship following his 12-round unanimous decision victory over Tyson Fury in their rematch last Saturday night.
They will have to wait for the winner of the February 22 bout between IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker before negotiations can begin for an undisputed championship fight with Usyk (23-0, 12 KOs).
Usyk says he is open to any fight and it will be up to Turki Alalshikh if he wants him to fight the winner of Dubois-Parker. Oleksandr has no one to fight, and that would be huge for him at heavyweight. He has talked about wanting to go down to cruiserweight, but he won’t do it if he can get a bigger money fight against Dubois or Parker.
Usyk’s domain
“It was a beautiful performance. In fact, I was left speechless for this reason. I don’t have much to say. “He was an encyclopedia of boxing,” promoter Alex Krassyuk told iFL TVtalking about his fighter Oleksandr Usyk after his victory over Tyson Fury last Saturday night in Riyadh.
“In 12 rounds he showed how boxing is conducted. So, he did it from the basement. He was laying the bricks. By putting in the windows and the roof, you will have created the building,” Krassyuk said of Usyk’s performance.
“We have been fighting in our opponents’ backyards since 2016. That is nothing new for us. That’s a comfortable atmosphere. We get used to it.
“Probably relax, get his mind back and get back to training,” Krassyuk said when asked what Fury should do next. “He is a great champion. It’s not about what I would like to see. It’s about what the boxing world would like to see. If they are happy to see this fight, it is perfect.”
Fury will NOT retire because he wants to fight Anthony Joshua, and that can be understood. There is a lot of money for him to face AJ, and it would help him redeem himself after losing back-to-back fights against Usyk.
“For me, I would love to see Usyk as the undisputed No. 3,” Krassyuk said, making it clear that he wants to see Usyk face the winner of the February 22 fight 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’s no problem making that fight happen whenever something unforeseen happens. Anthony Joshua won’t be a problem because he hasn’t shown any desire to fight a rematch with Dubois and knows better than to face Usyk for a third time.
The controversy over Fury’s beard
“It’s not an issue that affects the outcome of the fight,” Krassyuk said when asked if Fury’s beard was an issue for them in this fight. “It is just a formal question whether we follow the rules or not. The rules say that you have to trim your beard so that its volume does not affect the blow.
“Every organization has that, but it doesn’t clarify the specific length of the beard and, for this reason, you can’t know the boundary between what’s legal and what’s illegal,” Krassyuk said.
It’s impossible to know whether Fury’s beard cushioned the impact of Usyk’s punches enough to prevent him from getting hurt or not. On a couple of occasions, Fury’s head snapped back and his eyes turned white as Usyk punched him hard. It is unknown if those shots would have caused more damage if Fury had been clean shaven. You’d still like to have seen Fury shave.
What will be interesting to see is if Fury chooses to shave because he’s not fighting. If he does, we have to believe that he grew a beard to use it as a fortification and protect himself from blows.
