The remarkable career of the current heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk is drawing to a close, and boxing fans are eager to learn the identity of the Ukrainian champion’s next opponents. Usyk himself shed some light on the matter, naming the three fighters he intends to face before hanging up his gloves.
The revelation came during an interview he gave yesterday to Inside The Ring, a program Usyk joined after completing his daily training session. Devin Haney, who was a guest on the show, asked the Ukrainian fighter how he would find the motivation to face someone like Rico Verhoeven, who has not achieved any significant results in professional boxing.
Usyk, after stating that he considers the bout with Verhoeven a “real fight,” even though the Dutch athlete cannot be regarded as a high-level boxer, outlined his future plans and named the three opponents he intends to share the ring with next.
The first is obviously the aforementioned Rico Verhoeven, who will have the opportunity to face Usyk on May 23 at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. According to the champion, the second will be the winner of the British derby between Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois, scheduled to take place in Manchester on May 9. The third name mentioned by Usyk was Tyson Fury, who will return to the ring in a month after an eighteen-month layoff to face the Russian puncher Arslanbek Makhmudov.
The undefeated Wardley is the current WBO world champion, having obtained the belt when Usyk refused to face him. The English puncher had earned the role of mandatory challenger by stopping Joseph Parker in an exciting battle that had seen him trailing on the scorecards before turning the fight around thanks to the explosive power of his punches.
Fury has already lost twice on points to Usyk, but he has never acknowledged the legitimacy of those verdicts and is now chasing a third fight with the Ukrainian. The two first met in May 2024 and fought again in December of the same year. On both occasions the vast majority of qualified experts considered Usyk’s victory deserved.
The short list of names made public by Usyk does not include that of WBC mandatory challenger Agit Kabayel, who in theory would have the right to receive his world title opportunity immediately after the bout between Usyk and Verhoeven. If the German heavyweight of Kurdish origin is not taken into consideration, the World Boxing Council will be forced to strip Usyk of its belt and award it to Kabayel, the current Interim champion.
Paradoxically, Agit Kabayel himself had emerged as the winner in the poll created by Usyk on his Telegram channel to ask his fans who they preferred as his next opponent. The Ukrainian had proposed four options—Andy Ruiz Jr., Fabio Wardley, Agit Kabayel and Joseph Parker—and the German received the most votes, with 35 percent of the preferences.
It therefore appears rather curious that his name has now disappeared from the world champion’s mind…