An announcement of a fight between unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22) and Oleksandr Usyk 18-0 (13) could be made by as early as the end of the week.
WBA, WBO and IBF boss Joshua was expected to face WBC kingpin Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) in Saudi Arabia on August 14 before an arbitrator ruled in favour of former Fury opponent Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) who was looking to enforce the rematch clause in the contract from their February 2020 bout.
Bob Arum of Top Rank, who co-promotes Fury alongside Frank Warren, has put a hold on the new 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas for July 24 for a potential Fury-Wilder fight.
Meanwhile, WBO mandatory contender Usyk was slated to face Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce 12-0 (11) for the interim WBO belt with the winner to get a shot at the victory of Joshua vs Fury.
All of those plans have now been thrown into disarray.
The WBO has wasted no time in trying to resolve their end of the puzzle, issuing a 48-hour deadline yesterday for Joshua and Usyk to agree to terms for a fight.
Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk has confirmed the 34-year-old Ukrainian southpaw is ready to step in at short notice to face Joshua and says negotiations with the 31-year-old Brit’s promoter Eddie Hearn have been running smoothly.
“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.
