On December 21, Alexander Usik will have a rematch with Tyson Fury and will try to defend the title of world heavyweight champion according to the WBA, WBO and WBC. This time, the absolute championship is not at stake, unlike the boxers’ meeting in the ring in May, but this does not make the fight any less intriguing.
A few months ago, after Usik became one of the few who managed to collect four belts in two weight classes, there was talk that Alexander had already achieved everything and could think about retiring from his career. The main argument was that Usik would hardly conquer higher heights, as he dominated in the first heavyweight division, knocking out all the peaks on the way, and repeated the same in the heavyweight division, facing the main challenges of his career.
Usik’s rematch with Fury has been officially announced:
Fury and Usyk will definitely fight again. What will the superstars’ revenge look like?
Against this background, new challenges immediately appeared on the horizon. Even Usik’s coach Sergei Lapin started talking about MMA and fistfights: “Sasha proved that he is the best boxer of this generation. After Tyson retires, he can consider options to act in other types of martial arts. He can easily fight according to the rules of MMA and BKFC. Imagine Usyk and Jon Jones fighting for the title of the toughest guy on the planet. Or a third fight with Joshua in the cage. Maybe even a fight with Jake Paul. But then Sasha would have to fight with one of his hands behind his back, so that everything would be fair and equal.”
Conor McGregor materialized immediately and, as co-owner of BKFC, greeted Usik. Alexander doesn’t care either: “Listen, we’re working. I don’t know if I’ll fight bare-knuckle. It’s possible. My team is working. Why not? UFC? Why not? McGregor, let’s go.”
Conor McGregor
Photo: Fake Images
The bias is obvious: money fights. Having achieved everything in boxing, Alexander simply pursues the goal of earning as much as possible. Jake Paul and Conor McGregor could well provide him with this. One is putting together decent PPVs by circling MMA veterans, and the other is simply a money-making machine, and there is not a fighter in the world who would refuse to fight Conor.
Not long ago, Usik opened up about a possible meeting with the Irishman: “My attitude to such fights is normal. People earn as much as they can. There is simply no need to start some kind of bacchanal about it, insulting each other when the children are watching. There should be no dirt, that specific dirt that brings some kind of less value to people. And the fact that they box, the fact that they organize and the fact that people come and pay – nobody forces them to go and pay for it, right? And people make money this way. There is demand, there is supply. Would I date someone? Well, why do I need this? The fact that we are now communicating with McGregor is something purely historical. Can you imagine jumping into the Colosseum somewhere in Italy? This is great, we will bring together normal people.”
Historic fights that bring big paychecks are a normal desire for an athlete. But this is a clear sign that the fighter is slowly starting to prepare for the end of his professional career. In the case of Usik, this is logical and understandable.
At the same time, he stresses that he has two goals in boxing right now: “Are there any interesting opponents left? Possibly a third fight with Anthony Joshua. And a rematch with Tyson Fury.”
The rematch with Fury is also expected to be already scheduled and will not take place just in case of some force majeure. And Joshua will definitely be a very loud fight. Admittedly, a lot depends on AJ. If he wins the IBF title against Daniel Dubois, then his fight with Usyk would make sense anyway. And if Alexander also defends his belts, then his trilogy with Joshua will be for the absolute championship, and that is a lot of money. More than with Fury, because there is no person in the heavyweights who sells PPV better than Anthony. If he manages to sell more than a million PPVs with a run-of-the-mill fight with Charles Martin, then one can only imagine what the fuss will be like when Joshua fights for the absolute championship against someone who has already beaten him twice.
Antonio Joshua
Photo: Fake Images
Usyk doesn’t want to miss such opportunities, so he will definitely grab high-profile fights before leaving. If he hadn’t thought about retiring, he would simply continue to fight with the new generation that is already on its way. But Usik doesn’t need this, he just wants to decorate his entire path with big fights and ride into the sunset with a ton of money. Or he will go through BKFC and MMA along the way. And no one will judge him for this.
