By Jake Donovan
With his first title defense officially out of the way, Oleksandr Gvozdyk can now fully focus on the next order of business.
In the ring, it means pursuing his fellow light heavyweight titlists. For now, though, next on his list is to have fun and take in a night at the fights as he watches countryman Vasiliy Lomachenko in action in an April 12 lightweight title defense versus Anthony Crolla.
“We’re good friends. I will go to Los Angeles to support Vasiliy,” Gvozdyk (17-0, 14KOs) told BoxingScene.com of plans to extend a tradition among the Ukraine Triple Threat—Lomachenko, Gvozdyk and exiting cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk—habitually attending each other's fights.
The unbeaten lineal light heavyweight champion and World Boxing Council (WBC) titlist is fresh off of a 5th round injury stoppage win over Doudou Ngumbu. Their March 30 ESPN-televised headliner in Philadelphia was viewed as a one-sided affair long before the opening bell, and proved to be just that in real time.
Aside from lacking a more conclusive outcome, it proved a successful venture for Gvozdyk who made his first defense of a title he acquired in an 11th round knockout of Adonis Stevenson last December.
Waiting in the wings will be a title defense versus unbeaten mandatory challenger Marcus Browne—at least in theory. Such a bout has yet to be ordered by the WBC, nor has Browne made any mention at all since his own win over Badou Jack in January of plans to enforce his mandatory status.
With the more likely scenario of the two continuing to travel separate paths, it opens the door for the unbeaten Ukrainian to collect more belts. Despite his current status as lineal light heavyweight champion, there exists a greater need to prove his worth at the top level.
“To be best, you are supposed to prove it,” insists Gvozdyk. “Besides me, we have three more champions. How can we say we’re the best? We will find out who’s the best.”
Meanwhile, his mind is already made up as to whom is the best lightweight in the world—and he doesn’t see anything about the April 12 ESPN+ headliner changing that status.
“I don’t see anyone who can make a problem for Lomachenko at (lightweight)” claims Gvozdyk of his countryman, who is a massive 100-1 favorite to successfully defend his pair of lightweight belts over England’s Crolla, a former 135-pound titlist.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox