Oleksandr Usyk could hang up his gloves tomorrow and have a career that elite fighters will struggle to match for years to come.
The southpaw from Ukraine is an Olympic Gold Medalist, undisputed cruiserweight champion and undisputed heavyweight champion. He collected all of those belts in just 23 fights, including double victories over Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
The uniifed heavyweight champion has expressed an interest in moving back down to the 200 pounds ranks, where he left in 2018 after clearing out the top fighters of a tough era.
New names have risen since, not least Jai Opetaia, who beat former Usyk foe Mairis Briedis in 2022 for the IBF belt. He is undefeated in 27 with 21 knockouts and, as a southpaw, has been tipped to follow Usyk’s path and move to heavyweight in the future, perhaps for a match-up of the former cruiserweight champions.
In true Opetaia style, he told Seconds Out that he would be willing to either defend his belt against Usyk at cruiserweight or move up to the top division and become the challenger.
“Whatever happens, happens, man. I’ll wait for the phone call. If they want to send me through a contract, let’s do it. I don’t give a f**k.”
Whilst it is a match-up that brings with it a certain level of intrigue, particularly if the Ukrainian did fancy moving back down against the advice of many in the sport, Usyk is much more likely to wait until February 22 and face the winner of Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker.
Dubois picked up the IBF Heavyweight World Title when Usyk vacated it in order to fulfil his contractual rematch with Fury. Should he rematch Dubois – he stopped him in nine rounds back in August of 2023 – or indeed Parker if the New Zealander continues his run of form and snatches the belt, Usyk would be giving himself the chance to become two-time undisputed.
