It was reported on Ringnews24.com earlier on that Anthony Joshua will likely be facing Oleksandr Usyk for the heavyweight world championship, at least according to the Ukrainian contender’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk.
This week has seen the likely collapse of Joshua fighting Tyson Fury, originally scheduled to take place on August 14th in Saudi Arabia. But with a court ruling that Deontay Wilder has the right to fight Fury in what will be a third contest between the two boxers, it is now looking as if Joshua v Fury will have to be rescheduled for later on this year.
We never had any bad relations with Eddie. So we’ve been in touch before and we are in touch even more often today and yesterday and the day before yesterday,” Krassyuk told Pep Talk UK.
“We are now in front of fighting AJ. I think the most probable way it should go now is AJ with Usyk.
“We didn’t have much time to discuss the options, so the principal location that is under discussion at the moment is Wembley.
“With all my respect to Saudi Arabia, it might be a little too hot in August over there.
“But if it goes to Saudi Arabia, also happy. If it goes to Ukraine, even more happy! If it goes to any other place in the world, we are happy because we are facing the very best in heavyweights. And this is the best way to prove yourself.
“I think this week is the deadline for everyone. So end of this week the whole world will know that Fury vs AJ on August 14 is finished.
“And instead of one fight we are getting two fights. AJ is going to fight Usyk and Fury is going to fight Wilder.”
Usyk was chuffed at the news he might finally be getting his long-awaited shot at Joshua.
“When I gave him a call, he didn’t pick up. I left a message, a short one, like ‘Are you ready to face AJ?’ and he called me back in half an hour and explained that he was already crossing the English Channel on his way to London!” said Krassyuk.
Although it is quite a disappointment for everybody that the biggest fight in modern heavyweight boxing will probably be delayed, Joshua v Usyk isn’t a particularly bad substitution.
Usyk, now 18-0 with 13 KO’s, is a special talent. But he hasn’t really given many the confidence that he could be a big force in the 200lb division after lacklustre performances against Chazz Witherspoon and Dereck Chisora. Blame that on whatever you like. But I think it is possible that the heavyweight class might be proving to be just a bit too big for him. And Anthony Joshua is a big heavyweight. A natural one.
If the two fight, I can only see one winner and that is the Londoner. A faded Dereck Chisora found some success early on in their October, 2020 fight. Usyk did come on strong a bit later, but that was more down to Dereck tiring more than anything. We all know that Joshua will not tire. Especially against a smaller man like Usyk.
So, while it isn’t the best fight to be made at least we may be getting the second best that could be.
I am confident that both Tyson Fury and Joshua will both come through with whatever they have to do and we eventually will see the one that we all want.
It is just going to require a bit of patience on the part of all of us.
