Just because Oleksandr Usyk has to prepare for a new opponent on super short notice, doesn’t mean he isn’t keeping his list of top priorities in the heavyweight division.
Usyk, who’s making his heavyweight debut vs. Chazz Witherspoon on Saturday night, live on DAZN, confirmed with iFL TV that he still wants to fight Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury in 2020. However, the heavyweight he’d like to face most out of those three is the WBC champion.
“Of course, I want to fight them, but right now at this point, at this moment, the most [who] I want to fight is Wilder,” Usyk said through an interpreter, as his signature eyes widened.
When asked why he’d like to prioritize the fight with Wilder over the others, an animated Usyk offered: “Because he has a belt and it’s green and green is my most important (color) and my color.”
Usyk’s comments come a few days after Wilder downplayed the Ukrainian moving up to heavyweight.
"Oleksandr Usyk is not a threat to me,” Wilder told Sky Sports. “He’s too small for me. He does a lot of movement and stuff like that, but that don’t faze me."
Perhaps Usyk took that personally.
Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs) will be facing Witherspoon, who was a late replacement. Usyk's original opponent, Tyrone Spong, was pulled after there were adverse findings in two of Spong's urine samples.