By Jake Donovan
A new opponent is in line for Alexander Ustinov this weekend in Manchester, England. The once-beaten heavyweight contender from Russia will now face American journeyman Travis Walker, who replaces former title challenger Dereck Chisora in a development that somehow flew well under the radar.
Ustinov (30-1, 21KOs) was slated to face Chisora on a Manchester bill that includes a vacant lightweight title fight between Terry Flanagan and Jose Zepeda. His appearance on the show serves as the first fight as part of a three-year co-promotional contract with Frank Warren.
A press conference was even held, with Chisora boasting of how he would run through his old sparring partner. Ustinov was brought into the Brit’s camp to help him prepare for his eventual knockout loss to Tyson Fury last November.
Chisora apparently had a change of heart, however. The fight is no longer on the bill, as confirmed by a recent bout sheet produced by the press office of Warren’s Queensberry Promotions.
The show still goes on for Ustinov, though none too happy about the late switch.
"Chisora refused to fight with me for a week before the fight,” Ustinov insisted, in a statement through the press office of his co-promoter Vlad Hryunov. “We have been preparing for a fight with Chisora, picked it rivals under his style, but it does not mean that I will look past Walker. I am now ready to enter the ring against (World heavyweight champion Wladimir) Klitschko. I am sure that will knock Walker in the first round and have my next fight will be a champion.”
Chisora withdrawing from the fight is just the latest in a week filled with disappointing news for Hrunov, Ustinov’s promoter in Russia.
Hrunov was on course to land promotional rights for the upcoming heavyweight championship between Klitschko and Fury, as he was armed with a check of more than $18 million to submit at Monday’s ordered purse bid hearing for the fight.
However, the World Boxing Association (WBA) informed all participants on site that the purse bid was canceled due to a deal being struck between K2 Promotions and Hennessy Sport at the very last minute.
Speculation ran rampant that the 11th hour deal was motivated by Hrunov’s presence at the purse bid hearing, for fear of losing promotional control to the Russian promoter. Whatever the case, he was looking forward to his own heavyweight advancing through those very same rankings, although a potential win over Walker (39-13-1, 31KOs)—a 36-year old steppingstone who has lost six straight and has been out of the ring since last December—doesn’t quite go as far as the upside that would have come with his possibly beating Chisora.
"For us it was a big surprise that Chisora at the last moment refused to fight with Ustinov,” noted Hryunov. “We were offered several alternatives, from which Walker was the best. I think that the Ustinov VS Walker fight will be no less spectacular and dynamic.
“Right now Alexander is ranked 7th by the WBA. I think that his next fight will be Ustinov vs. Wladimir Klitschko. Alexander can beat Klitschko. He is the only boxer who can do it.”
Jake Donovan is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox