{"id":386536,"date":"2026-01-23T18:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386536\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T18:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:26:09","slug":"usyk-team-reveals-possible-next-opponent-as-wilder-off-the-table-its-a-big-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386536\/","title":{"rendered":"Usyk Team Reveals Possible Next Opponent As Wilder Off The Table: &#8220;It&#8217;s A Big Fight&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.secondsout.com\/topic\/oleksandr-usyk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> could now be in line to defend his titles against another highly-rated heavyweight rival after doubt was cast on a potential showdown with Deontay Wilder.<\/p>\n<p>The Ukrainian superstar was last in action back in July <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/boxing\/articles\/cm2lmd1rj8no\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">when he stopped Daniel Dubois in he fifth round of their rematch at Wembley Stadium<\/a>, becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion for the second time.<\/p>\n<p>It has been rumoured over the last couple of weeks that Usyk\u2019s next opponent will be none other than former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, who has vowed to become a world champion once again.<\/p>\n<p>That could now be off the table after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.secondsout.com\/news\/chisora-finalising-deal-with-ko-artist\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wilder was said to be finalising a deal with Derek Chisora<\/a>, which could pave the way for Usyk to have a potential match-up with reigning WBC \u2018interim\u2019 heavyweight champion Agit Kabayel, who has established himself as one of the top heavyweight contenders on the planet in the last two years.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.talksportbet.com\/en-gb\/casino\/category\/slots\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">In an interview with talkSPORT Bet<\/a>, Usyk\u2019s team director Sergey Lapin revealed there is a possibility that Usyk could go on to face Kabayel instead of \u2018The Bronze Bomber\u2019 next.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn today\u2019s heavyweight top division there are no \u201csafe\u201d opponents, every top level guy is a threat. Kabayel is definitely a possible option. We see how Germany reacts to these fights, the stadiums they can fill, and how strong that market is. Stylistically he can be tricky too. Pressure, pace, physicality. It would be a big European fight with strong business potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kabayel made his long-awaited return to action earlier this month, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.co.uk\/boxing\/story\/_\/id\/47574049\/kabayel-easily-defeats-knyba-nears-world-title-fight-vs-usyk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">stopping Poland\u2019s Damian Knyba in the third round of their clash at the Rudolf Weber-Arena in Germany<\/a> to retain his WBC \u2018interim\u2019 title for the first time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk could now be in line to defend his titles against another highly-rated heavyweight rival after doubt&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-386536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}