By: Sean Crose
I can’t say I never imagined Oleksandr Usyk as one of the last two men standing in the post-Klitschko heavyweight era. If you had asked me, three years ago, who I thought would be the King of the land, I would have answered Deontay Wilder. I feel his colleagues, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, are very good, but not good enough to deal with Wilder’s outburst. How wrong I was. However, I can’t be too hard on myself on this, because who would have imagined that in 2022, the former king of heavy cruisers Oleksandr Usyk would own three of the four biggest title belts of the tournament. ?
Boxing is nothing if not a theater of surprises, and now the possibility of the most unlikely heavyweight title defeats has appeared on the verge of becoming a reality. With Wilder losing to Fury twice and Joshua losing to Usyk twice, there are only two contenders left for heavyweight dominance – Fury and Usyk. They’re an odd couple, this towering British and quirky Ukrainian. Just imagining Fury 6’9’s fight in the ring against Usyk 6’3 leads to images that can be described as awkward at best. While the Fury trio fighting Wilder is a clash of giants, a Fury-Usyk showdown can turn into a battle of skill sets. It’s not a bad thing, really, although it’s hard to imagine a fight between these two as thrilling. Then again…
The truth is, no matter how a Fury-Usyk fight turns out, it’s a fight that needs to be done. Recently, an older – and former – fighting fan complained to me that he no longer knew who the heavyweight champion of the world was. That’s because IS doesn’t have a heavyweight champion. Rather, there are two main belt holders. It’s time to end this confusing and frustrating era of division. It’s time for one heavyweight, Tyson or Usyk, to rule them all. If there’s one thing contemporary boxing needs it’s clarity, and a single heavyweight champion, a direct descendant of the line that began in the early 1890s, would go a long way to helping the sport. this sport.
The good news, of course, is that both Fury and Usyk appear ready, willing and able to make this fight a reality. Honestly, the question of who will win is a difficult one to answer, but it would be gratifying to find out. Hopefully we’ll find out sooner rather than later.
