Oleksandr Usyk’s Most Likely Retirement Opponent Named

Retirement is likely just around the corner for Oleksandr Usyk, but now the man he will likely face before walking away has been named.

There is nothing left in the sport for the Ukrainian great to achieve. He left the amateur ranks as an Olympic Gold medallist at London 2012 and soon began making his mark on the professional game.

Within just six years, Usyk had beaten all challengers and become the undisputed cruiserweight champion and then moved up to the banner division.

Six years later he made history as one of only a couple of men to also become undisputed at heavyweight. After two victories over each of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois, he also became a two-time undisputed heavyweight champion, so now sits in a class of his own having also never been knocked down in the ring.

After recently vacating his belts, he is now set to hand-pick a final opponent before hanging up his gloves for good.

Team Usyk Director Sergey Lapin spoke to Pari Match and revealed who that will likely be.

“Usyk vs Wilder is definitely one of the loudest and most realistic options right now, and we have had conversations with Zuffa. But there is no agreement yet, and the final structure and numbers still need to make sense.

“From Zuffa’s side, Oleksandr would obviously bring immediate legitimacy to their heavyweight title and the whole boxing project. From our side, it has to be much bigger than simply helping establish a new belt. It needs to be the right opponent, the right platform and the right financial package for Oleksandr’s final chapter.

“There are several other options that could be of interest. However, we have not started any formal discussions with them yet because we are currently working with Turki and want to respect that relationship and give him the first opportunity to discuss the next event with us.”

Wilder was a once-feared WBC champion who knocked out every man he faced with his thrilling power, but two losses to Tyson Fury and subsequent defeats against Zhilei Zhang and Joseph Parker have seen his stock diminish as he heads towards 40 years of age, though he did win last time out when he beat Derek Chisora over 12 rounds.