By: Hans Themistode
After carefully surveying the cruiser landscape, Oleksandr Usyk was proud of what he had achieved. From 2016-2019, Usyk has successfully dethroned every cruiser world champion title. In the process, the Ukrainian star has become an undisputed champion.
With little work left to do, Usyk decided to try her hand at the heavyweight division. While his first two results resulted in lackluster wins over the likes of Chazz Witherspoon and Dereck Chisora, Usyk had it all in his most recent appearance against Anthony Joshua. Despite being judged as a sizable underdog, Usyk has made bets profitable as he continues to dominate the former giant to start his own reign of champions.
In all likelihood, Usyk is eyeing an immediate rematch with Joshua in the first half of 2022. But while the weight star is focused on proving that his victory over Joshua is justified. French, he started slowly but surely looking at his ex in weight class.
In recent months, Canelo Alvarez has expressed his desire to become a cruiserweight world champion. Officially, the newly crowned undisputed super middleweight will face off against the winner of the upcoming showdown between WBC cruiser belt holder Ilunga Makabu and Thabiso Mchunu.
Should Alvarez successfully win another world title, Usyk revealed that he would be ready to return to the weight division he once dominated.
Usyk told BoxingInsider.com: “I can fight him at cruiser.
While the news that Usyk is ready to face Alvarez in the 200-pound cruiser weight class has aroused the curiosity of fans, former 4th place champion Roy Jones Jr believes the showdown. between them would be a completely inappropriate match.
“For me, Usyk is too big for Canelo,” Jones Jr said in an interview with IFL TV. “In my opinion, Usyk beat Canelo with ease.”
Although Jones Jr. doubts that Usyk will continue to dominate Alvarez due to their difference in size, but the newly introduced Hall of Famer believes Usyk’s success as a serious contender is unattainable. To bolster his claim that Usyk could give up future glory for an instant win, the former four-tournament champion points to recent history to further prove his point.
“Usyk has no reason to come down and fight Canelo,” continued Jones Jr. “Usyk is the heavyweight champion of the world. Why are you promoted to cruiser, when you are the heavyweight champion of the world? See what happened when Chad Dawson went from light heavyweight to Andre Ward at 168? That was the end of his career. Why would you do that to yourself? “
It looked like it was at the peak of the game, and after scoring notable wins over Antonio Tarver and Bernard Hopkins in the light heavyweight division, Chad Dawson was poised to drop out of the super-middleweight division in 2012 to take on Unified Champion Andre Ward. Despite being a consistent fixture on many pound lists, Dawson was completely dominated as he was knocked out three times and then stopped in the 10th round.
Though Dawson would later return to the light heavyweight division, he was never quite. In his first appearance as an official lightweight boxer since Ward, Dawson was brutally knocked out by Adonis Stevenson in the first round. His career will continue to decline as he loses to competitors Tommy Karpency and Andrzej Fontfara.
In a similar move, Jones Jr also gained and lost weight nearly two decades ago. In 2003, after stopping Clinton Woods in the sixth round to defend his light heavyweight title, Jones Jr chose to move up to heavyweight to face WBA champion John Ruiz. Although Jones Jr. did his best not to overload his body with too much weight, in his heavyweight debut with 193 pounds, his endurance seemed to take a hit shortly thereafter.
After his victory over Ruiz to claim the heavyweight world title, Jones Jr stripped a significant amount of muscle from his frame to return to the light heavyweight division. While he’s racked up a few wins here and there, Jones Jr is no longer the pound-for-pound star most people are used to seeing. The former multi-tournament champion will go on to receive eight of his nine career losses after making the weight-loss move back, five of which were due to a stoppage.
In addition to Jones Jr wanting Usyk to steer clear of a return to the cruiser weight class due to the weight disparity, as the Florida native sifts through the available names for the newly crowned heavyweight champion, he believes there is Lots of great matches are available to him at present.
“You have Tyson Fury, you have Deontay Wilder, you have Anthony Joshua again, you have Andy Ruiz. You have so many big guys in the weight class that you’re the champion right now, it’s pointless. Unless you’re going to make more money he’s not for you and Fury right now is probably one of the biggest fights on the planet. You and Joshua are once again a big fight. ”
