{"id":421656,"date":"2026-01-20T15:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421656\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:31:07","slug":"usyk-in-shock-talks-to-sign-with-promoter-in-move-that-nobody-expects-hes-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421656\/","title":{"rendered":"Usyk in shock talks to sign with promoter in move that ‘nobody expects’: “He’s different”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk<\/a>\u2018s future could be set to become a whole lot clearer.<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian was last in action in July when he defeated Daniel Dubois<\/a> to once again become undisputed heavyweight champion, but he has since vacated his WBO belt, with that now in the possession of Fabio Wardley.<\/p>\n

Usyk has recently revealed his desire to defend his WBC, WBA and IBF belts against Deontay Wilder<\/a>, but it\u2019s unknown who could possibly stage the event.<\/a><\/p>\n

A big update has now been provided though, after Usyk\u2019s team director Sergey Lapin revealed to Talksport Bet<\/a> that they are currently in \u2018dialogue\u2019 to sign with Dana White and Zuffa Boxing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is contact, there is dialogue, and interest exists [from Dana White and Zuffa Boxing]. Details aren\u2019t for the public right now. Let\u2019s say a few doors are open and if format, numbers, and timing align, the market could see a move nobody expects.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has seen what he [Dana White] did. He turned \u201cold MMA\u201d into the global UFC machine. His real power is packaging not just a fight, but an event. If he gets involved, the scale and attention immediately become different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lapin also explained how that is shaping the talks with Wilder.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are conversations and negotiations happening [with Deontay Wilder], but there are no final decisions and nothing signed at this moment. We\u2019re moving calmly and professionally, when everything is agreed, it will be announced officially.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are only considering the biggest and most logical options, fights that truly create an event, not just another name. There are several top heavyweights in the conversation, but the shortlist changes depending on belts, timing, dates, and broadcast structures. Our position is simple: if it\u2019s a fight, it has to be a big one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zuffa Boxing are set to stage their first event this Friday and recently announced the signing of Jai Opetaia<\/a>, but the possible acquisition of Usyk would certainly be a huge gamechanger for the entire sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk\u2018s future could be set to become a whole lot clearer. The Ukrainian was last in action…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-421656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}