More in The Way of Joshua vs Fury – Usyk is Pushing His Mandatory Position

by Kris Anthony (krisanthonyboxing@gmail.com)

All appeared so much more clear with Dillian Whyte losing his mandatory position when being knocked out by Alexander Povetkin last weekend. All Anthony Joshua needed to do was dispatch Kubrat Pulev (one of his mandatory’s) and Tyson Fury to settle the Deontay Wilder trilogy, the two then would be able to face each other in a 2021 blockbuster.

No, not so simple.

It seems that Oleksandr Usyk, if victorious over Dereck Chisora is going to push his mandatory position and put a stumbling block into the aforementioned Joshua vs Fury clash.

So, the scenarios: 1/ Usyk loses to Chisora (and a Usyk victory is not a foregone conclusion as he is untested at heavyweight with just one win over journeyman Chazz Witherspoon) 2/ He wins and accepts ‘step-aside’ money to allow the Joshua vs Fury fight to happen 3/ Usyk is co-promoted by both Eddie Hearn and Alexander Krassyuk and Hearn manages to weave some of his magic to enable the heavyweight blockbuster to take place.

Usyk’s co-promoter Krassyuk has other plans:

“Usyk has been the WBO mandatory challenger for more than one year” his co-promoter Alexander Krassyuk told Sky Sports.

“He has agreed to let AJ versus Pulev happen, with regards that the winner fights him next. This statement is still solid. Our plan is A) beat Derek Chisora B) push AJ to comply with WBO rules or vacate the title C) defeat AJ (or any other WBO champion or contender and become the heavyweight champion. Simple and practical.”

“According to our latest talks with Eddie, Usyk vs Chisora has to go at the end of October,” Krassyuk said. “Still much depends on COVID-19 restrictions but we all want to make it happen.”

To be continued.