By Steve Kim

What had been rumored for the last week or so was confirmed on Wednesday as WBO cruiserweight titlist Oleksandr Usyk (10-0, 9KOs) was added to HBO's December 17th broadcast from the Forum in Inglewood, California.

In what will be his first title defense, the highly regarded Usyk will take on Thabiso Mchunu (17-2, 11KOs).

"I think Usyk has the potential to become the next boxing star with his skills and his experience and then his willingness to fight anyone and anywhere," said Tom Loeffler, the managing director of K2 Promotions, which handles his career.

It's rare that HBO televises cruiserweight bouts but as of this moment you have the likes of Tony Bellew, Denis Lebedev, Marco Huck and Murat Gassiev, who can all make for interesting match-ups. According to Loeffler, that was one of the reasons that Peter Nelson - the head of HBO Sports - decided to green-light Usyk.

"Peter sees the potential of Usyk and just wants to put on the best fighters regardless of what division they are in like he did with 'Chocolatito' (Roman Gonzalez) at flyweight and (Gennady) Golovkin, when one one knew he was and now it's the same situation here," said Loeffler.

Usyk defeated Krzystof Glowacki back on September 17th to capture the WBO crown in what was just his tenth pro fight. Loeffler struck lightning in a bottle several years ago as he brought Golovkin over to the States and onto HBO's airwaves. Can lightning strike twice?

Loeffler says - "I think Usyk has the potential with his skills in the ring and his personality and character outside the ring to definitely be the next boxing star. I think the American fans will gravitate towards him, he's got nine knockouts in ten wins and I definitely think he's got that potential. Look, if HBO's happy with him, if the American fans are happy with him than the plan is for him to fight here while at the same time, because he's so popular in the Ukraine - he won a gold medal for Ukraine - he gets large crowds over there.

"So the plan is to continue to fight him in Ukraine but if the opportunity presents itself, take advantage of the platform here on HBO."

Also on that December 17th broadcast is young featherweight contender, Joseph Diaz, who takes on Horacio Garcia and the main event has the farewell of Bernard Hopkins who faces Joe Smith.

Steve Kim is the news editor for BoxingScene.com.