By Edward Chaykovsky
Promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions expects a very big year for WBO cruiserweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk (11-0, 9 KOs), who will make his return on March 18th at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
That evening will be headlined by the highly anticipated middleweight fight between WBA, IBO, IBF, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin and mandatory challenger Daniel Jacobs. Usyk will likely have an undercard role as part of the HBO pay-per-view event.
The fight will be the second defense for Usyk and his second appearance in the United States. He captured the title earlier this year by traveling over to Poland to win a twelve round unanimous decision win over previously undefeated hometown hero Krzysztof Glowacki in September.
Last Saturday night at The Forum in Los Angeles, Usyk made his American debut with a ninth round stoppage of Thabiso Mchunu (17-3, 11 KOs). It was Usyk's introduction to the American audience as the fight was televised by HBO. Usyk had some issues at the start, but eventually adjusted and then put Mchunu away.
Usyk, an Olympic gold medal winner, wants to invade the heavyweight division by the end of 2017. Loeffler believes that goal is very possible, because the talented Ukrainian walks around well above the cruiserweight limit of 200-pounds. Loeffler sees Usyk following the same road as Hall of Famer Evander Holyfield, who unified the cruiserweight division and then moved up to unify the heavyweight division. Because of boxing politics, it's not likely that Usyk will have enough time to unify the titles at 200-pounds.
"He broke Evander Holyfield's record for the fastest man to win a cruiserweight world title. Usyk did it in his 10th fight, Holyfield did it in his 12th. You hate to compare a guy to an all-time great like Holyfield, but people are excited about Usyk because of his potential to move up to heavyweight later in his career. He walks around at like 220 pounds, so that's a real possibility," Loeffler told Forbes.
