Photos: Oleksandr Usyk Training Hard For a War With Glowacki

Earlier this year, the World Boxing Organization ordered WBO cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Glowacki (26-0, 16KOs) to make a mandatory title defense against challenger Oleksandr Usyk (9-0, 9KOs) of Ukraine.

The fight was officially announced in June at a press conference in Poland, with a finalized date of September 17 with a 15,000 seat Ergo Arena in Gdansk playing host for the fight.

This past April at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Glowacki made a voluntary defense against former IBF champion Steve Cunningham. He scored four knockdowns on route to a twelve round unanimous decision win.

Uysk, an Olympic gold medal winner, is being fast-tracked to the belt and wants to face the champion sooner than later. He was due to take an interim-fight to stay busy, but suffered an injury in camp and now heads straight to a world title shot.

Glowacki captured the world title last August with a knockout victory over longtime champion Marco Huck of Germany. He suffered some injuries to his hand and elbow during the contest and required surgery.