{"id":9094,"date":"2025-07-20T19:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-20T19:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/9094\/"},"modified":"2025-07-20T19:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-20T19:10:10","slug":"who-should-oleksandr-usyk-fight-next-parker-fury-among-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/9094\/","title":{"rendered":"Who should Oleksandr Usyk fight next? Parker, Fury among candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk is once again the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world<\/a>, following a demolition job against Daniel Dubois in their rematch on Saturday at Wembley Stadium.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old Usyk (24-0, 15 KO) has really done it all in boxing \u2014 an Olympic gold medal, undisputed cruiserweight world champion, and now two times the undisputed world heavyweight champion \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s enough. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s next,\u201d he said in the ring. \u201cI want to rest. I don\u2019t know, I\u2019ll go back home with my family, my wife and my children. I want to rest now.<\/p>\n

But Usyk did name four possible opponents, and there was one strong candidate he left out.<\/p>\n

Tyson Fury<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, and money man Turki Alalshikh is on board<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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 \u201cthe world knows it,\u201d which he\u2019s seeing less agreement with than he\u2019d like to, probably.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

And Fury (34-2-1, 24 KO) is probably still the second-best heavyweight boxer on the planet. He wasn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

But does the world really want it? Usyk\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n

Speaking of which…<\/p>\n

Anthony Joshua<\/p>\n

Usyk named Joshua (28-4, 25 KO) as a potential opponent. The crowd didn\u2019t 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 \u2014 although Glenn Feldman tried in the rematch \u2014 and what\u2019s he done since then?<\/p>\n

He came back with a tepid performance in a win over Jermaine Franklin.
\nHe knocked out Robert Helenius, who was not a contender and Joshua looked so-so before the finish.
\nHe did dominate Otto Wallin, who pretty much quit after five rounds.
\nHe demolished Francis Ngannou, who is not a professional boxer.
\nHe 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.<\/p>\n

Currently, Joshua is linked mainly to celebrity boxer Jake Paul, which again is something Turki Alalshikh is on board for<\/a>, and would at least be Jake Paul taking a real fight, and frankly a pretty crazy one given his record and prior opponents.<\/p>\n

Derek Chisora<\/p>\n

\"Boxing<\/p>\n

Photo by Warren Little\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

You also kind of have to admit that Crazy Ol\u2019 Derek has done what he can. He\u2019s 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.)<\/p>\n

At 41, Chisora isn\u2019t looking to fight a lot longer, and he wants something big. It doesn\u2019t get bigger than Usyk.<\/p>\n

Joseph Parker<\/p>\n

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\u2019s in the best form of his career.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 who subbed in for Daniel Dubois in February \u2014 have him in the prime position, at least as the sanctioning bodies are concerned.<\/p>\n

Parker\u2019s promoter David Higgins is demanding the fight come next, and he has fair points.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been in the queue for a long time. He\u2019s a frontrunner,\u201d Higgins told Sky Sports. \u201cHe\u2019s mandatory with the WBO. It\u2019s great to hear Frank Warren saying Parker next. It\u2019s great to hear experts like Lennox Lewis saying Parker next. I think it would be an outrage if he didn\u2019t get the shot. It\u2019s not really fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

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 \u201corganized.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Agit Kabayel<\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s Kabayel was not mentioned by Usyk on Saturday. He should have been.<\/p>\n

Kabayel (26-0, 18 KO) has the interim WBC title. He\u2019s a former European champion. He\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

By time of claim, Parker is next in line, not Kabayel. But Kabayel has buzz, credibility, and an exciting style in the ring. He\u2019s fun to watch. And like Usyk, he\u2019s charmingly odd for a boxer, a man who doesn\u2019t talk a lot before a fight, simply goes in and does his job, and doesn\u2019t even seem to much want to talk about it after.<\/p>\n

Kabayel doesn\u2019t have the name value of the others mentioned, admittedly, even with the recent run of strong performances that have gotten diehard fans talking.<\/p>\n

Retirement<\/p>\n

Usyk could also retire, and you\u2019d be hard-pressed to say he was running from anything if he does.<\/p>\n

Usyk is 38 years old. He certainly isn\u2019t \u201cold\u201d in the ring, but there is nothing \u2014 truly, nothing \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

Three of the four names he mentioned he\u2019s already beaten, two of them twice. Parker and Kabayel are good fighters, but are either of them guys you\u2019d feel leave truly unanswered questions if Usyk doesn\u2019t fight them?<\/p>\n

Poll
\n Who do you want to see Usyk fight next?<\/p>\n

\n 56%\n <\/p>\n

Joseph Parker<\/p>\n

(144 votes)<\/p>\n

\n 20%\n <\/p>\n

He should retire<\/p>\n

(53 votes)<\/p>\n

254 votes total<\/p>\n

Vote Now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk is once again the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, following a demolition job against Daniel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[9665,64,63,2350,802,10808,1920,10807,1913,585,10806,2352,2351,1919,7501,10805,10804,85,7502,3853],"class_list":["post-9094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-among","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bad","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-commentary-opinion","tag-boxing-news","tag-candidates","tag-fight","tag-front-page","tag-fury","tag-hook","tag-left","tag-next","tag-oleksandr","tag-parker","tag-should","tag-sports","tag-usyk","tag-who"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}