General Director of K2 Promotions Ukraine Alexander Krasyuk gave
interview for the British media before the final press conference of the boxing evening of the WBC heavyweight division champion (over 101.6 kg) Briton Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) and former British challenger Derek Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) .
Krasyuk told what options the unified champion from Ukraine Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) has if the fight against Fury does not take place. Usyk’s promoter also evaluated all the mandatory contenders and answered a question about a possible fight against former US champion Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs).
– If for some reason the Fury-Usyk fight does not take place. Tyson Fury could be struck by lightning on his way to the ring, or Derek Chisora could beat him and have a rematch… What options does Usyk have then?
“Most likely, he will have to carry out mandatory defenses. It’s also the reason why we’re asking the WBA and IBF to give us an interpretation of the rotation system – who’s next if Fury loses, gets injured, or the fight doesn’t go through. We have to fight the mandatory challenger, who’s the next mandatory challenger? Dubois, Joe Joyce, who, by the way, expires in March, or is it Hrgovic? That’s why we have no idea, but we have a plan B and C.
– Of the names that you named, who will be the most difficult fight for Oleksandr Usyk and which fight will be the best for Oleksandr Usyk?
– From a sports point of view … Let’s say we don’t need to get into promotion, boxing business, money, etc. We just analyze boxing, comment. The easiest fight for Usyk is Filip Hrgovic. This is the easiest fight not only for Usyk, but also for a normal heavyweight. Joe Joyce and Dubois… I would rate Joe Joyce as the hardest. Dubois is very close to Joe Joyce, but he is still young and the lack of experience is still present. Maybe in a couple of years he will be at the top, but right now I would rate Joe Joyce as the hardest. He had a fight with Usyk in WSB. It was a heavyweight, 5 round fight, tough fight. Joe is really strong. He is like a bull. You can hit him, but that doesn’t change anything. It must be the most difficult option.
- Fury turned down $65 million to fight Usyk? Krasyuk comments
– Another name that has been mentioned recently is Deontay Wilder. If the fight with Tyson Fury does not take place, Alexander would like to fight with Wilder. How does he fit into this picture with the mandatory challengers?
“Let’s pretend we don’t have belts, we don’t have commitments, we don’t have mandatory applicants. Then we would consider Deontay Wilder number one. But unfortunately for us and all applicants, we have to obey the rules. We need to respect the rules and act on them.
– Will Alexander Usyk be ready to make the titles vacant in order to fight Fury, or is this not in his plans?
“If you think that he even has such an idea, you are completely wrong. He will never make titles vacant. He will go to the absolute championship, no matter what it costs him.