{"id":715341,"date":"2026-07-28T12:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/715341\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T12:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T12:29:09","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-could-fight-for-new-heavyweight-title-in-last-dance-before-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/715341\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk could fight for new heavyweight title in ‘last dance’ before retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> could pursue an unexpected prize ahead of competing in \u2018his last dance.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Ukrainian relinquished his WBC, IBF and WBA titles in June, whilst also revealing that, after having become a three-time, two-division undisputed king, he is now just one \u2018last dance\u2019 away from retirement.<\/p>\n

This announcement came roughly a month after his subpar performance against former kickboxing champion Rico Verhoeven<\/a>, who gave a tremendous effort but was eventually stopped in round 11 of their heavyweight clash.<\/p>\n

But while many suspected that a Verhoeven rematch was on the cards, it would appear that Usyk is more likely to face Deontay Wilder, a fellow veteran and former WBC champion.<\/p>\n

\u2018The Bronze Bomber\u2019 comes off a split decision victory over Derek Chisora<\/a>, who he floored twice during their chaotic battle in April.<\/p>\n

Perhaps more interesting than the opponent, though, is the fact that Team Usyk has engaged in serious talks with Dana White\u2019s Zuffa Boxing.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Parimatch Casino<\/a>, Usyk\u2019s advisor Sergey Lapin confirmed that the 39-year-old could even fight for the promotional outfit\u2019s inaugural heavyweight belt.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsyk vs Wilder is definitely one of the loudest and most realistic options right now, and we have had conversations with Zuffa. But there is no agreement yet, and the final structure and numbers still need to make sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Zuffa\u2019s side, Oleksandr would obviously bring immediate legitimacy to their heavyweight title and the whole boxing project. From our side, it has to be much bigger than simply helping establish a new belt. It needs to be the right opponent, the right platform and the right financial package for Oleksandr\u2019s final chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lapin added that first refusal to stage Usyk\u2019s swansong will be given to Turki Alalshikh, who happens to be closely aligned with Zuffa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk could pursue an unexpected prize ahead of competing in \u2018his last dance.\u2019 The Ukrainian relinquished his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-715341","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\/715341","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=715341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}