Loeffler sees Usyk as another Golovkin

By Boxing News - 11/10/2016 - Comments

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By Dan Ambrose: Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions believes he’s got the cruiserweight division’s version of Gennady “GGG” Golovkin in WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksandry Usyk (10-0, 9 KOs), who will be fighting on December 17 against contender Thabiso Mchunu on HBO Championship Boxing from the Forum in Inglewood, California.

Usyk, 29, will be fighting on the undercard of the light heavyweight clash between Bernard Hopkins and unbeaten talent Joe Smith Jr. Usyk-Mchunu won’t be the co-feature bout on the card, but it will be televised by HBO. Like Golovkin, Usyk is an Olympian with superb credentials.

Golovkin won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympics. Usyk captured a gold medal in the 2012 Olympics for Ukraine. He recently won the WBO cruiserweight title after beating the hard hitting Krzysztof Glowacki by a 12 round unanimous decision on September 17.

If Loeffler can create a star out of Usyk like he’s done with Golovkin in the U.S., then K2 Promotions would have a one-two punch with those two exciting stars for the boxing public to enjoy. Golovkin was originally scheduled to fight on December 10, but Loeffler was unable to negotiate a fight between him and WBA ‘regular’ champion Daniel Jacobs.

It would be a good deal for Usyk if Loeffler is able to put him on Golovkin’s undercards the same way he’s been doing with super flyweight champion Roman Gonzalez. Loeffler has done a great job of exposing the U.S public to Gonzalez. If he can do the same thing with Usyk, then he could become a star very quickly just as Gonzalez has made a name for himself in a real hurry.

“I just see his potential in being the next star in boxing,” Loeffler said to RingTV.com on about Usyk. “His character and personality outside the ring — his entertaining style inside the ring — I just think he’s going to provide a lot of entertaining fights for the boxing fans around the world. We’re looking at the same situation with Usyk (as with Golovkin on HBO). We’ll build Usyk and try to get him as much exposure as we can in the big media markets, similar to what we did with Gennady. This fight is in Los Angeles but I can easily see him fighting in New York in the near future, as well.”

Usyk has already learned a lot of English in a short period of time. It’s incredible how quickly Usyk has picked up the English language. Compared to a popular middleweight that fights for Golden Boy Promotions, who still isn’t speaking English to the U.S. media, Usyk is hitting the ground running with his ability to speak to the media in the U.S.

The 6’3” southpaw Usyk is very outgoing, and not shy like Golovkin. He’s a completely different type of personality. He has a lot of charisma that comes across even when he’s not speaking.

For Usyk to become a huge star, he’ll need to go after his opponents the way that Golovkin does. Usyk has a very high KO rate, but he tends to take his time to break his opponents down before trying to KO them. In his last fight against Glowacki, Usyk waited too long before trying to get him out of there, and the fight ended up going to the scorecards.

Golovkin would have tried to take Glowacki out if the two fighters were the same size. Usyk will need to be more aggressive if he wants to become a big star in the U.S, because the fans have a lot of other fighters to watch in the States that go the full distance. There’s nothing special about fighters that need to go the full 12 rounds to get a decision. The way for Usyk to set himself apart from the other boxers is for him to KO everyone he faces or almost everyone. That’s the speedy way to the top. Usyk has already got the charisma to become a star in the U.S. He just needs to focus more on getting knockouts rather than out-boxing his opponents.

It would be a real accomplishment if Usyk can KO Mchunu on December 17, because this is a defensive artist who makes it tough on his opponents to get to his chin. Usyk will need to put a lot of pressure on Mchunu in this fight for him to get him out of there.