Oleksandr Usyk has hinted that he could potentially be on the market for a new promoter very soon, which led to Bob Arum wasting no time in expressing an interest in signing the unbeaten Ukrainian.
On his official YouTube channel, Usyk spoke in an interview published on Thursday about his recent victory over Dereck Chisora, his recoveries from various minor injuries and more.
The most interesting part of the video came when he was asked about his situation with Alexander Krassyuk and K2 Promotions.
Usyk detailed his contract, noting that the original deal signed ahead of his professional debut in 2013 had a clause that meant he could leave after three years if he was not put into a world championship fight by then. Of course, his WBO cruiserweight title success over Krzysztof Głowacki in 2016 was arranged for Poland shortly before that clause could be triggered.
However, he also indicated that now, at the seven-year mark, he is in a position to listen to offers from elsewhere.
"Everything is simple, I want to move forward the same way everyone does," said Usyk when asked why he would consider leaving K2 after great early success in his career, which included winning the Muhammad Ali Trophy in the World Boxing Super Series and unifying the cruiserweight division before moving up to heavyweight.
"[If I stay] it will be K2 Promotions, not Usyk-17 Promotions," continued Usyk. "I cannot work on the development of my own company. What I want is to get favorable conditions for myself, because every athlete only has a certain period of time to earn money.
"I want to do my best so that I can then develop myself. And, frankly speaking, a boxing career does not last more than 10-15 years."
When asked by Marc Gatford of Betway Insider what he made of the quotes, Arum — who has worked with Usyk's compatriot and fellow Olympic gold medalist Vasiliy Lomachenko — was open to the idea of being the man who can offer Usyk the type of deal he is searching for.
"We'd be happy to have him," said Arum. "I've become friendly with him, a very funny charming guy, and I know him pretty well because of the Lomachenko situation.
"Top Rank would love to promote him if there are no impediments. He's a wonderful boxer and athlete but more than that a great person, he’s very smart and a lot of fun.
“He hasn’t reached out but he has the same manager as Lomachenko, Egis Klimas. Egis would reach out to me if there was an opportunity for us to get involved with Usyk, so I’d leave it up to Egis to contact me - we have a great relationship.”
In the YouTube video, Usyk also discussed Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, with whom he has worked in the past, including the decent win over Chisora on British soil as well as the 2018 stoppage of Tony Bellew.
The interviewer suggested that Hearn was keener on Chisora being the one with his hand raised at the end of the Halloween night main event, but Usyk was not fazed by the idea.
He responded: "So what if he wasn't interested in me winning? Many people do not want me to win. I don't care.
"I will still work with those people. It is the rules of business. I only pay attention to whether our partnership is profitable."