Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn chats a bit with Fight Hub TV’s Marcos Villegas to discuss the future of Oleksandr Usyk with recent talk of a potential Tyson Fury vs. Anthony Joshua fight in the works. Hearn says that he will make an offer to continue working with Usyk in the future, but he is not sure that Usyk will continue to fight for much longer, as he expects Usyk to sit back and wait for an undisputed title fight before finally give up.
Hear about the status of Usyk’s contract
“He doesn’t have a contract with anyone right now. So he’s sitting there waiting for an undisputed fight in the Middle East that I believe is scheduled for the spring of next year. The Saudis wanted that fight to take place in December, so Fury was supposed to fight in December, but Usyk wasn’t ready.”
About his intentions to re-sign Usyk
“I think we’ve had a great run. I can’t remember how many fights we’ve done together, seven fights, six fights, they gave him a lot of money. It has been brilliant. I think this still happens with the Saudis, if that happens with undisputed: in the last fight they controlled the rights to that fight, and if they do it again, it’s kind of hard to add value other than almost represent you, if that makes sense.
“So he’s in a good position. Alex Krassyuk, Egis Klimas, a good team of people around him, so I’m sure he’ll wait and rest with his family and see what’s next.”
On who could see Usyk return against if not in an undisputed match
“I don’t know. I don’t think I would. I don’t see Usyk as someone who’s going to continue for another five years, fighting every challenger in the division. He was the undisputed cruiserweight world champion, he’s the unified cruiserweight world champion. If he fights for the undisputed and wins, he will be the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and I think he is not a chick either.
“So I’m just speaking as a fan, I haven’t really had these conversations with him, but I don’t think he’ll fight much beyond that undisputed fight if he wins because he’s already completed boxing. The problem is that once he’s earned that level of money, how can he boil it back down to a practically small percentage of that money to take on a mandatory defense or a young and hungry volunteer defense when he doesn’t really need it? ?”
