Former unified cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk, if he had his way, would love to face the winner of the upcoming rematch between Andy Ruiz and Anthony Joshua, who on December 7th will battle for the WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO world heavyweight titles.
Usyk will make his heavyweight debut on October 12th in Chicago.
When he officially made his move to heavyweight, the WBO made Usyk the mandatory challenger to the heavyweight title.
But Usyk getting a world title shot, at least next, will not be that easy.
Because the IBF's mandatory challenger, Kubrat Pulev, is also pushing for his shot at the crown.
"The winner of Ruiz Jr vs Joshua will have to choose who they are going to fight," Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn told Sky Sports.
"We're going to have a problem where [Usyk and Pulev] both say: 'you've got to fight me next'. [Usyk] really wants it."
But the IBF has already stated that a deal had been worked out, between the sanctioning bodies, that their mandatory challenger would get the next crack, ahead of Usyk.
"Ours has to come first. The organisations have agreed that the IBF mandatory would be next," an IBF rep stated.
Usyk was scheduled to face heavyweight veteran Carlos Takam back in May. The fight was pushed back when Usyk suffered a bicep injury in training camp. Because of Takam's recent decision to sign a promotional pact with Joe DeGuardia of Star Boxing, there were issues in reaching a deal to face Usyk on the new date.
"He was going to fight Takam, now he'll fight another world ranked opponent," said Hearn. "He doesn't mind who he fights."
