The much-gossiped about heavyweight bonanza in the Middle East later this year figures to be a nightmare lattice of negotiations.
But for Oleksandr Usyk, his part in those potential talks will be relatively hurdle-free, at least according to his manager.
In a recent interview, Egis Klimas, the longtime handler for the WBO, WBA, IBO, IBF heavyweight champion from Ukraine, responded to suggestions that powerful backers in the Middle East are brainstorming the possibility of staging a fight card in December featuring the who’s who of the heavyweight division: Usyk against Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder against Anthony Joshua.
Amer Abdallah, a key person helping drive boxing in Saudi Arabia, has confirmed that preliminary talks have begun with the fighters and representatives but has also stressed that nothing is “concrete.”
All four fighters are aligned with competing promotional and network entities, which may complicate such an outsize endeavor. Recently, Usyk and Fury failed to get a deal across the line.
But Klimas believes Usyk’s end in the negotiations will be fairly easy to account for because he is not tied exclusively to a broadcaster, an aspect that has perhaps more times than not in boxing led to fights getting squashed.
“I read in the news about the tournament,” Klimas told iD Boxing. “If they’re going to make it, more power to them. I’m gonna be happy. But I represent Oleksandr Usyk and I can only speak for Oleksandr Usyk and I know it’s a lot of networks involved, a lot of different broadcasters involved. If they can work it out, they can work it out.
“I can tell from my point of view, Oleksandr is free of any broadcast, network, promotion, so we’re probably going to be the easiest one to work with.”