Eddie Hearn thinks he knows who might stand a chance of beating unbeaten heavyweight ruler Oleksandr Usyk.
Hearn has watched three of his men fall at the hands of Usyk in recent times. It began when Tony Bellew met Usyk at cruiserweight, with the Ukrainian winning the fight by eighth round knockout to retain his undisputed cruiserweight titles.
He then set up an early heavyweight contest for Usyk with Derek Chisora. ‘Del Boy’ pushed the former undisputed cruiserweight hard in one of his first fights up at the new weight but still lost wide on the cards.
It was then the turn of Anthony Joshua to try and do something no man has done inside the professional ring and get the better of Usyk. Across two 12-round fights in 2021 and 2022, Joshua failed to do enough to defend or then win back his unified world titles.
Since then, the Ukrainian has defeated Daniel Dubois and has twice faced and beaten Tyson Fury to cement his legacy as one of the best to ever do it.
As for the future, current cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia has stated before he would love to fight the heavyweight king at some point and speaking to ESNEWS his promoter Hearn backed him in that fight.
“I’m looking down the road, Jai is humble. He’s committed to the cruiserweight division but for me one of the best of all time was Usyk, he became undisputed, moved up and became undisputed at heavyweight.
“The medium focus right now is every belt in the division and the long term focus is to fight Usyk for the unified heavyweight world championship. I believe he is the only fighter who can give Usyk a real fight over the next 12-18 moths.”
The Ukrainian himself has insisted he is keen to fight on, so this could be one for down the line. More immediate options include a fight with the winner of the upcoming IBF contest between Dubois, and Joseph Parker with a second undisputed title the potential prize.
