Usyk Agreed To Fight Bellew To Get Joshua

Usyk Agreed To Fight Bellew To Get Joshua

By Gary Kittilsen

When a fighter cleans out a division and becomes an undisputed champion there is only one logical step, to move up to the next weight class and test yourself there. When Oleksandr Usyk signed with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Boxing it looked like Usyk was going to step up and test himself against the deep stable of heavyweights that Matchroom has to offer.

The undisputed cruiserweight champ is set to fight Tony Bellew on November 10th in a cruiserweight title bout. The fight makes a lot of sense for Usyk, he will fight a big name who is coming off a big win again, who has had a level of success at the heavyweight division, Bellew has twice beaten David Haye. If Usyk should win he would have completely cleaned out the cruiserweight division and beaten a guy that has had success at the next level, the heavyweight division.

The next step would be to fight full blown heavyweights in preparation for a showdown with Joshua, somewhere down the road. It seems Usyk wants to skip the heavyweight preparation and jump right in with Joshua in 2019, Usyk said:

“One reason we have agreed to fight Bellew is to get to Joshua”

The last undisputed cruiserweight champion was Evander Holyfield who unified all three major belts at that time and then moved up to the heavyweight division as well. Holyfield fought six times over a two and a half year span against a stable of increasingly difficult heavyweights, until he was able to adapt to the heavyweight division and transform his body and sufficiently bulked up in preparation for the larger heavyweights.

Usyk in wanting to jump right into the ring with 240-250 pound heavyweights will be quite a challenge. Usyk is 6’3 and has fought his entire pro career at the 200-pound cruiserweight limit, he is a tremendously skilled and athletic fighter with a deep amateur pedigree having won a gold medal in the 2012 Olympic games. He would need to garner all that skill and athleticism to have any chance against the 6’6 245-pound Anthony Joshua.
Joshua has a date booked on April 13th at Wembley Stadium, the logical choice for this fight would the winner of the Deontay Wilder Vs Tyson Fury fight on December 1 for Wilder’s WBC strap. However, this could get complicated for a number of reasons.

There is a rematch clause for both Wilder and Fury. Either man can demand an immediate rematch should they lose. So it is likely that we are going to get Wilder vs Fury twice in a row, with the rematch likely in the second quarter of 2019.

In addition to that, Wilder and Hearn have had a long history of failed negotiations in trying to make a unification fight in the past. Hearn is willing to offer Wilder a flat fee of $15 million like Wilder had verbally agreed to before Joshua signed to fight Povetkin. However, Wilder said that was a one time offer and he will not accept anything other than a 50/50 split for a future fight with Joshua. A 50/50 split with the biggest draw and earner in the sport is not likely to happen especially considering the deep roster of talented heavyweights that Matchroom currently has.

The timing however lines up perfectly for a Joshua Vs Usyk fight as Usyk will certainly be looking for a fight in the second quarter on next year.