Oleksandr Usyk's plan: 'Coming home' to cruiserweight, then David Benavidez

Unlike the last big name who hightailed it from a David Benavidez clash, Oleksandr Usyk apparently has real interest in running to the unbeaten three-division champion.

Two-time undisputed champion Usyk, 25-0 (16 KOs), is interested in fighting first for the vacant IBF cruiserweight belt in early 2027, and then hopefully meeting Benavidez in an immense showdown later next year.

“Oleksandr aims to return to cruiserweight in 2027 and become undisputed again,” Usyk advisor Serhii Lappin told Casinostugan. “First, we are looking at a fight for a vacant world title. Then, the goal is to face David Benavidez to unify all the belts and become undisputed cruiserweight champion.

“We see 2027 as the final chapter of his career. He wants to finish as undisputed champion in the division where he first won all the belts.”

Earlier this week, at the news conference to formally announce his three-belt cruiserweight title fight against WBC titleholder Michal Cieslak in Arizona on Dec. 5, Benavidez repeated his three-fight “hit list” as he reaches free agency following the Cieslak bout: former IBF 200lbs belt holder Jai Opetaia, former undisputed cruiserweight champion Artur Beterbiev and then Usyk.

But Usyk, 39, may now be altering the order given his stature and age as he returns from the more-difficult-than-expected 11th-round TKO of pro kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in May.

Phoenix’s Benavidez, 32-0 (26 KOs), has previously sent a chill through others given his destructive results. Four-division champion Canelo Alvarez previously avoided mandatory 168lbs challenger Benavidez, 29.

Yet Usyk, who has defeated two-time heavyweight champions Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois twice each and become undisputed heavyweight champion, is talking of sealing his legacy by returning to cruiserweight, where he captured the undisputed title in 2018 by defeating Murat Gassiev.

“That would be wonderful,” said Sampson Lewkowicz, Benavidez’s longtime promoter, whose contract with the fighter ends with the Cieslak fight.

“Speaking as a fan of the sport, this would be such a great event for the sport and both fighters, and it would be a far better and bigger fight than one against Canelo,” Lewkowicz told BoxingScene on Friday.

Lappin expressed the sincerity of making the superfight by laying out the plan to fight for the IBF belt that was stripped from unbeaten new Zuffa Boxing cruiserweight titlist Opetaia.

Benavidez’s father-trainer, Jose Benavidez Snr, said Usyk’s urgency to fight his son after an IBF title bout might accelerate Benavidez’s interest in fighting him, perhaps pausing plans to fight Opetaia in May.

Benavidez Snr said that while Usyk is one of his favorites, the effects of age and an extended amateur career on the Ukrainian make it a fight his son can win.

Usyk fought all of his major heavyweight title fights between 220 and 230lbs, extending to 233¼ for Verhoeven.

Currently, the IBF’s No. 1 cruiserweight contender is New Zealand’s David Nyika, 13-1 (10 KOs).

“If we’re going to do this, we need to take a comprehensive approach,” Lappin said in a prepared statement. “The first fight for a world title, the second for the undisputed championship.

“Usyk has never been a natural heavyweight. Cruiserweight is his home. He loves a challenge, so he moved up, cleaned out the heavyweight division, and now he is coming home to restore order.”