Who should Oleksandr Usyk fight next?
Oleksandr Usyk has no shortage of potential challengers to his undisputed crown.
Oleksandr Usyk is once again the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, following a demolition job against Daniel Dubois in their rematch on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.
The 38-year-old Usyk (24-0, 15 KO) has really done it all in boxing — an Olympic gold medal, undisputed cruiserweight world champion, and now two times the undisputed world heavyweight champion — and when asked about what he wants to do next, he was typical Usyk, good-natured and honest, and said he would like to rest first and foremost.
“It’s enough. I don’t know what’s next,” he said in the ring. “I want to rest. I don’t know, I’ll go back home with my family, my wife and my children. I want to rest now.
But Usyk did name four possible opponents, and there was one strong candidate he left out.
Tyson Fury
Usyk has beaten Fury twice. But Fury, who is currently in his latest fake retirement, says he plans to face Usyk again in April 2026, and money man Turki Alalshikh is on board.
Fury, who once lambasted Deontay Wilder for refusing to accept his defeats like a sportsman, has recently found himself incapable of accepting the losses to Usyk, constantly claiming that he beat Usyk twice and “the world knows it,” which he’s seeing less agreement with than he’d like to, probably.
You can’t really get on Tyson too much for that, though. Boxers are strange birds, the great ones driven by something most of us can only imagine and never truly understand. There has to be some level of ego, even delusion, to keep going in a brutal, unforgiving profession, even when you consider the amounts of money someone like Fury makes to fight.
And Fury (34-2-1, 24 KO) is probably still the second-best heavyweight boxer on the planet. He wasn’t blown out by Usyk, he was just beaten by him in two extremely high-level fights. He wants another crack. Something in Tyson Fury needs to have his hand raised against Usyk.
But does the world really want it? Usyk’s last six fights have been Dubois, Joshua, Joshua, Fury, Fury, Dubois. He is 6-0 in those fights. How many chances do these opponents need?
Speaking of which...
Anthony Joshua
Usyk named Joshua (28-4, 25 KO) as a potential opponent. The crowd didn’t seem very warm to the thought, frankly, nor should they be. Maybe you can argue Fury should have won one of the two Usyk fights, but no one can argue Joshua won either of his two fights with Usyk — although Glenn Feldman tried in the rematch — and what’s he done since then?
- He came back with a tepid performance in a win over Jermaine Franklin.
- He knocked out Robert Helenius, who was not a contender and Joshua looked so-so before the finish.
- He did dominate Otto Wallin, who pretty much quit after five rounds.
- He demolished Francis Ngannou, who is not a professional boxer.
- He was knocked clean out by Daniel Dubois and was battered around the ring for the entire fight, which was exciting and Joshua did show heart and his own power, but he was dominated.
Currently, Joshua is linked mainly to celebrity boxer Jake Paul, which again is something Turki Alalshikh is on board for, and would at least be Jake Paul taking a real fight, and frankly a pretty crazy one given his record and prior opponents.
Derek Chisora
Another guy Usyk has already beaten, another guy Usyk named. Chisora (36-13, 23 KO) got a third fight nobody actively wanted with Tyson Fury back in 2022 because he and Fury get along well. A rematch with Usyk would be the same sort of thing, basically.
Usyk and Chisora had one of the best fight build-ups in recent memory back in 2020, as the two of them are both just weird people, frankly, and have unusual senses of humor, especially in the boxing world.
You also kind of have to admit that Crazy Ol’ Derek has done what he can. He’s won three straight, albeit against second- or third-level opposition, and his win over Otto Wallin in February was a semifinal IBF eliminator. (Chisora is ranked No. 2 by the IBF, the No. 1 slot is vacant, and usually there would be another fight and then Chisora vs someone in a final eliminator.)
At 41, Chisora isn’t looking to fight a lot longer, and he wants something big. It doesn’t get bigger than Usyk.
Joseph Parker
Parker might be the actual call, at least if Usyk wants to remain the undisputed champion. The 33-year-old New Zealander holds the interim WBO title and is a mandatory challenger for Usyk, and he’s in the best form of his career.
A former titlist, Parker (36-3, 24 KO) has looked better than ever the last couple of years, and three straight wins over Deontay Wilder, Zhilei Zhang, and Martin Bakole — who subbed in for Daniel Dubois in February — have him in the prime position, at least as the sanctioning bodies are concerned.
Parker’s promoter David Higgins is demanding the fight come next, and he has fair points.
“He’s been in the queue for a long time. He’s a frontrunner,” Higgins told Sky Sports. “He’s mandatory with the WBO. It’s great to hear Frank Warren saying Parker next. It’s great to hear experts like Lennox Lewis saying Parker next. I think it would be an outrage if he didn’t get the shot. It’s not really fair.”
Boxing is a strange sport in that everything is truly earned from one standpoint, but also so little is earned because of the politics and how the sport is “organized.” But as much as anyone can, Parker has earned his shot, by the way the rules are supposed to work as applied by the sanctioning bodies that control the titles.
Agit Kabayel
Germany’s Kabayel was not mentioned by Usyk on Saturday. He should have been.
Kabayel (26-0, 18 KO) has the interim WBC title. He’s a former European champion. He’s undefeated. And he has turned heads in three straight fights, absolutely battering Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez, and Zhilei Zhang into submission with vicious body work.
By time of claim, Parker is next in line, not Kabayel. But Kabayel has buzz, credibility, and an exciting style in the ring. He’s fun to watch. And like Usyk, he’s charmingly odd for a boxer, a man who doesn’t talk a lot before a fight, simply goes in and does his job, and doesn’t even seem to much want to talk about it after.
Kabayel doesn’t have the name value of the others mentioned, admittedly, even with the recent run of strong performances that have gotten diehard fans talking.
Retirement
Usyk could also retire, and you’d be hard-pressed to say he was running from anything if he does.
Usyk is 38 years old. He certainly isn’t “old” in the ring, but there is nothing — truly, nothing — left for him to prove in boxing. He is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, not just a generational but an all-time great, and has done things nobody else ever has.
Three of the four names he mentioned he’s already beaten, two of them twice. Parker and Kabayel are good fighters, but are either of them guys you’d feel leave truly unanswered questions if Usyk doesn’t fight them?