Joshua willing to fast track Usyk for April fight

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Anthony Joshua could face Oleksandr Usyk at Wembley in April with his promoter Eddie Hearn already in discussions to co-promote the Ukrainian cruiserweight.

Usyk unified the 14st 4lb division by outpointing the previously undefeated Murat Gassiev in Russia last weekend to add the WBA and IBF titles to his WBO and WBC titles.

Talk has already turned to a move up to heavyweight and it has now emerged that a fight against superstar Joshua could happen as early as April 13, with Wembley Stadium already booked for a show.

Joshua and his promoter Hearn hope to tempt the WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder into a mega-money battle at the national stadium but they are lining up contingency plans in case that fight fails to materialise.

As reported by The Mail on Sunday last week, Joshua says he would be open to facing Tyson Fury on the date but it is unclear whether or not the self-styled Gypsy King, only just back from nearly three years out, would be ready for such a huge fight by then.

Instead it could be Usyk, who won gold in the weight class below Joshua at the London 2012 Olympics, who could stand across from AJ next spring.

‘Joshua v Usyk could possibly be in April,’ said Hearn. ‘Joshua wants the Usyk fight, he is fascinated by that kind of thing because he wants to test himself against people who he thinks are brilliant. He thinks Usyk is brilliant. He is up for it.

‘I think Usyk will struggle against the big boys like any cruiserweight would. Outside of [Evander] Holyfield and a few others, who has done it?’

However, it appears that any route to an April fight with Joshua would have to go via another of Hearn’s fighters, Tony Bellew.

The former cruiserweight world champion gave up his WBC title in order to face David Haye in a pair of money-spinning fights at heavyweight but the ‘Bomber’ believes he can beat Usyk and win all the belts.

And Hearn senses an opportunity to co-promote Usyk, who is currently aligned with K2 Promotions, by offering him a multi-fight deal which will conclude with a crack at Joshua.

Hearn added: ‘Everybody seems to want to fight Joshua because he is the biggest fight in boxing.

‘Usyk’s plan is to fight Joshua and we have a plan for Usyk to get to Joshua.

‘My only priority for Usyk is Tony Bellew but he has the ability to be in some huge heavyweight fights. We have made them some offers to talk numbers.’

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I really likes the idea of this, but think it would be wiser for Usyk to have more than one fight at Heavy before he faces Joshua.
 
If the possible opponents for the Wembley show in 2019 are Miller, Whyte, and Usyk, I'd take Usyk any day of the week
 
If the possible opponents for the Wembley show in 2019 are Miller, Whyte, and Usyk, I'd take Usyk any day of the week


Yeah, me also, i just think Usyk would better acclimatise himself to the weight for a year or so
 
No thanks. If Usyk goes up I want him to do it properly.

Plus, Wilder/Fury winner should be the April fight.
 
Usyk is the best cruiserweight of the past 20 years and the biggest threat to Anthony Joshua in my opinion
I'm sad to say that I don't think we'll ever see Fury back at his best. This is a game of inches. If he's only lost 10% of his ability, that's still probably too much to beat Joshua.
Wilder is heavily reliant on his speed, he turns 33 in October and speed is the first thing to go with ageing fighters. He still looked rapid against Ortiz but we've seen people become shot overnight before because of injuries etc. Lennox Lewis and the Klitschko brothers have deluded people into thinking that most heavyweights peak around their mid-thirties, but it's actually around 30.
 
Well if Wilder and Fury are not available, next best thing is Usyk. I am not so high on a Whyte rematch. He looked great against Parker but still almost got stopped. And that Miller guy should be fighting someone like Chisora or Ortiz first, he ain't ready for AJ yet.

Usyk on the other hand is at his peak. I think AJ would suck against a slick southpaw.
 
Well if Wilder and Fury are not available, next best thing is Usyk. I am not so high on a Whyte rematch. He looked great against Parker but still almost got stopped. And that Miller guy should be fighting someone like Chisora or Ortiz first, he ain't ready for AJ yet.

Usyk on the other hand is at his peak. I think AJ would suck against a slick southpaw.
Miller-Chisora is a good idea.
 
It's a very good fight. Joshua showed against Wlad that he can carry his power in the championship rounds. He should get outboxed, but with his reach and accelerating ability he'd be a threat until the end. Plus the historical significance would be important... Assuming Joshua has a chance to unify first. Let Usyk get used to the HW and Joshua fight Wilder first.
 
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i don't like it.

i want usyk to move up properly and beat up a few people first. joshua has what, 30lbs on him? that's nothing to sneeze at with a power puncher like AJ.
 
Sorry but Usyk probably gets beaten up pretty bad against Joshua and some of the top HWS.
 
Madness. You can't just throw Usyk into a fight with a legit 6'6 250 pound tank.

He needs to start bulking and that's not going to happen over night. That will take him at least a few fights. It's not legit.

I would take whyte out of those names being mentioned. I think throwing Usyk into this is silly.
 
Madness. You can't just throw Usyk into a fight with a legit 6'6 250 pound tank.

He needs to start bulking and that's not going to happen over night. That will take him at least a few fights. It's not legit.

I would take whyte out of those names being mentioned. I think throwing Usyk into this is silly.

I don't see a guy like Usyk gaining a ton from bulking up. He's not going to ever be a puncher at the weight, after all. His biggest assets are his boxing ability, speed, and stamina, and bulking up significantly is only going to hinder those assets. He'd be well-served by easing into the weight class, but I don't think adding a lot of mass would help him a whole lot.
 
I don't see a guy like Usyk gaining a ton from bulking up. He's not going to ever be a puncher at the weight, after all. His biggest assets are his boxing ability, speed, and stamina, and bulking up significantly is only going to hinder those assets. He'd be well-served by easing into the weight class, but I don't think adding a lot of mass would help him a whole lot.

Yeah I think it would be counter productive to bulk up. He can’t match these guys for power, so why try. Concentrate on all the things he can do the every other hw can’t

I hope he takes bellew at hw then has maybe 3 fights against real heavies before Joshua/wilder. I’d rather have him and fury fight each other in a year or so for a shot at the title cus fury also ain’t ready for that step up. That would be an interesting fight
 
No thanks. Oleksandr against Bellew and if Joshua fights anybody but Wilder I don't even care.
 
I don't see a guy like Usyk gaining a ton from bulking up. He's not going to ever be a puncher at the weight, after all. His biggest assets are his boxing ability, speed, and stamina, and bulking up significantly is only going to hinder those assets. He'd be well-served by easing into the weight class, but I don't think adding a lot of mass would help him a whole lot.
Yea I'm not saying stack on the pounds but he will at least want to put on a few more pounds of muscle and that is legit not easy. I wouldn't have thought he'd want to just not bother and fight in the heavy weight division at his usual weight without cutting. It's not like he has height or length on his side like say Deontay either is all im saying.
 
Uysk isn't a big hitter at CW so I don't know what he can do to someone like Joshua. His punches won't do shit to him so that takes a lot of the excitement out.
 
Uysk isn't a big hitter at CW so I don't know what he can do to someone like Joshua. His punches won't do shit to him so that takes a lot of the excitement out.
Box their ears off and hope his head isnt removed from his shoulders.
 
Completely crazy to fast track Usyk against AJ whom has what 30-40 lbs and would get detonated by AJ in the midrounds. Have him destroy Bellew then goto a middle of the road heavyweight to warm up first.
 
Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Now that's just something. He really doesn't want Wilder in the same ring as him. Anyone else notice it was a bit diva-ish when he insisted that Wilder not be allowed in the post-fight conversations after the Parker bout?

If he can dodge, duck, dip, dive, or dodge the Wilder fight I'm really starting to think that's what he'll do. Best case scenario, I expect Joshua to line his pockets with a couple more, thrn fight Wilder because he "has" to, and then retire after he loses.

I actually think it's a 50/50 fight, but if he indeed does not want to fight Wilder, and actually has to, that mental defeat means an real one.

"Fascinating by brilliance"? Come on. Go watch someone do magic tricks with cards.
 

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