Just days after the historic undisputed heavyweight title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, attention has already turned to a potential rematch later this year.
Usyk, the former cruiserweight undisputed champion, overcame a huge size disadvantage against Fury to take all four major belts back to Ukraine.
With the bout as enthralling as it was, there won’t be many fans upset about the prospect of seeing the two battle it out again.
It was public knowledge before the first fight that a rematch was contracted no matter the result, and Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, has now confirmed to Boxing King Media that his man will ‘100%’ fulfil his duties, having ‘given his word’ to do so.
“We are men of our word. It’s not about paper, if we shake hands and promise something we normally do it, simple as that.
We have this rematch on paper, it was pre negotiated even before we had any agreement, so I see no reason for the rematch not to take place, especially from Usyk’s side, it’s clear 100%, no doubt about it.”
Reports have suggested it could be run back as soon as October, but Krassyuk hinted at a longer timeframe, with both men needing to fully recover.
“The time is an issue as right now we cannot define the time. After making all the physical examinations both guys have to spend time with their families and although he got cut he was in training camp and before that he was training for Ngannou and Usyk was training for Tyson, Tyson then Dubois then Tyson.
We need to respect that and give guys a proper rest. If you want to see a good performance in the rematch then we must give them time to reload.”
With Usyk’s team confirming their position, it’s now up to Fury to decide what he wants to do next, with his promoter Frank Warren not ruling out the possibility of ‘The Gypsy King’ hanging up the gloves.
