Oleksandr Usyk Vows To Dethrone Anthony Joshua & Tyson Fury

Former undisputed champion at cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk is planning to repeat his achievements at heavyweight. 

The 33-year-old Ukrainian has told Sky Sports he plans to beat British heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury to capture all the belts.

“I work hard on it,” said Usyk, when asked about becoming undisputed at heavyweight. However, when asked who he would prefer to fight, the talented southpaw was unsurprisingly nonchalant. “I want to fight both.”, he said. 

Both Joshua and Fury have fights booked in against Kubrat Pulev and Deontay Wilder, respectively. Usyk isn’t really interested in those, though. He just wants the belts. “The last thing I think about is who will fight who. No predictions,”

Injury has hampered Usyk’s time at heavyweight. So far, he has fought just once, beating Chazz Witherspoon in October 2019.

“I need to stay active. I need to box,” he said. “If your vocation is passive, it’s not good. If you stay active, it’s very good. This is my active vocation.”

Next, he’ll face Dereck Chisora on May 23 – Coronavirus permitting. It’s a sizeable step up against a real dangerous heavyweight. However, his manager Egis Klimas is confident of handling ‘Del Boy’ before moving on to bigger things, he said.

“Right now, we have to win [against Chisora], then after the mandatory fight for the WBO has to happen.

“I believe Anthony also wants this fight. Good fighters want to fight good fighters. Anthony sees a good challenge in Oleksandr and wants to go there. Everybody says Oleksandr will give Anthony problems, but Anthony believes the opposite, so he wants to show that he is stronger.

“In the UK would make sense – it wouldn’t make sense to go to the States with one boxer from the UK and one from Ukraine. The UK fans know Usyk.”

Can Oleksandr Usyk beat Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury?