With Tyson Fury’s huge showdown with Anthony Joshua seemingly in doubt following a ruling that grants Deontay Wilder a third fight with the former, the heavyweight landscape is something of a chaotic environment as things stand.
Oleksandr Usyk is now the latest character to emerge and if Joshua’s fight with Fury does fall through then the Ukrainian will be eager to exercise his right as WBO mandatory challenger to the Watford man’s crown.
The pair both captured gold at the 2012 Olympics and although Usyk’s dominance has occurred at cruiserweight, there’s many within the boxing community who believe he has the skills to rule in boxing’s biggest weigh class. His promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, is ready to make the fight.
"The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes this morning was several texts on my phone from different people around the world stating the same fact, Fury vs. AJ is off. It is off," Krassyuk said when speaking to Express Sport.
"Regarding Usyk, it depends. I will speak to Eddie in one hour, we have already exchanged texts this morning. It looks like we have a fight to make. We have agreed to speak in one hour when things will become clearer.
"Usyk is mandatory for WBO and the only obstacle that made them sanction the interim was the huge unification between Fury and Joshua, and if the fight is off then there is no other obstacles and Joshua has to deal with his mandatory."