After two victories over Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk is considering a new plan for his career: to return to cruiserweight, a category in which he was already the undisputed champion. It is a risky and strange move if he finally goes through with it, when he is at the top of the heavyweight division. Not only has he become the absolute king of the heavyweight division, but he has become a champion of the era despite having only had seven fights at heavyweight.
The Ukrainian will turn 38 in January, but he still feels strong enough to take on a huge challenge, which is to repeat successes in a lower weight division. He is, along with Evander Holyfield, the only fighter to have been undisputed in both heavyweight and cruiserweight, but it is perhaps in the latter that he can find motivations that appeal to him more. However, he has not turned down the chance to face Daniel Dubois after his great comeback against Fury.
“I will try to go back to cruiserweight again,” he told Sky Sports a few days ago. On the one hand, he would leave the way clear for his compatriot Wladimir Klitschko to be ‘invited’ to a world heavyweight title fight and thus become the oldest champion in boxing. Usyk has already said that he will help him fulfill this dream. On the other hand, ‘The Cat’ would open up the range of opponents after having cleaned up the heavyweight category. Remember that Dubois knocked him out despite the controversy over the supposed blow that knocked Oleksandr out cold.
Right now, the London Olympic champion facing unbeaten Australian Jai Opetaia sounds more interesting than granting a rematch to Daniel Dubois at heavyweight. But a return of Usyk to his roots would likely involve a mega-fight against the winner of Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev, who would move up in weight. No duel could match this one
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