Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk fought in May for the undebatable top spot in the heavyweight ranks.
The Brit brought the WBC belt to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the Ukrainian the WBO, WBA and IBF in what was the division’s first undisputed contest in 25 years.
Usyk, after an impressive start and even better finish to the fight, took it via split decision. He will now honour the contractual rematch clause and run it back with Fury in December, although has vacated the IBF belt which was given to former Interim Champion Daniel Dubois.
Dubois’ first defence takes place this month against Anthony Joshua, who looks to win it and move ahead to face the winner of the Usyk-Fury rematch.
Speaking to TalkSPORT Boxing, Derek Chisora – who is repped by ‘AJ’s management company and has faced both Fury and Usyk – backed his friend to knock both out, crediting his link-up with former Fury coach Ben Davison as the catalyst.
“AJ will knock Fury out in six rounds and he will stop Usyk in round four. I’m telling you now. Because now he’s got the right dancing partner, his trainer. That guy hasn’t stopped watching the two tapes of him fighting Usyk. Because he wants that fight badly, he wants the rematch. He wants Usyk to win the fight with Fury.”
Joshua has of course lost twice to Usyk on unanimous and split decisions, performing better second time around but still unable to solve the unique puzzle the Ukrainian presents. Chisora strongly believes Davison is the man to help do just that.
Asked if he sees Joshua becoming undisputed, a goal the 34-year-old has chased for some time, he said yes.
“Yes… I think the changes he’s made are Ben Davison and the people around him round him now. They’re listening to him, they’re understanding. They’ve gelled now. He was not knocking out his sparring partners and now he’s knocking them out. Because of Ben Davison.”
First up, Joshua must get through Dubois. Chisora doesn’t believe it’s a one-sided fight but predicts a knockout for ‘AJ’ in six rounds.
