By Barry Holbrook: Dereck Chisora is ready and willing to take on former unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk after he deals with David Price this Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London, England. Chisora (31-9, 22 KOs) isn’t impressed with Usyk’s juggling and all the movement that he uses, and he’s ready to give him a proper welcoming to the heavyweight division.
Would Matchroom Boxing be willing to let Usyk fight Chisora? That’s doubtful. Usyk’s credentials as an Olympic gold medalist and former unified cruiserweight champion is what makes him valuable to the promotional company, and Chisora could wreck things by beating him before they put him in with Anthony Joshua or Andy Ruiz Jr.
Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) recently made his heavyweight debut against Chazz Witherspoon (38-4, 29 KOs) in stopping him in the 7th round on October 12 on DAZN in Chicago, Illinois. The performance and the opponent for Usyk were underwhelming. Usyk looked weak, and was hit by a solid shots from Witherspoon before 38-year-old heavyweight faded. Witherspoon was brought in as a late replacement for Tyrone Spong, who tested positive for a banned substance was taken out of the fight.
Chisora would be risky fight for Usyk
It’s highly unlikely that Usyk, 32, will take Chisora up on his offer to fight him, as he’s the World Boxing Organization mandatory to WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr. Usyk has an excellent chance of fighting the winner of the December 7th rematch between Anthony Joshua and Ruiz Jr.
The word is that Usyk doesn’t want anymore warm-up fights at heavyweight before he challenges for the world title. He’s had his one heavyweight fight against Witherspoon, and he’s ready to fight the winner of the rematch between Joshua and Ruiz.
It’s understandable why Usyk wouldn’t want to take another fight between that one, since he’s assured of a huge payday when he challenges for the title. With Chisora’s power, he could end Usyk’s title dreams if he lands cleanly. Usyk didn’t look like a world beater against Witherspoon.
At 215 pounds, Usyk looked like a cruiserweight that was taking on old and over-the-hill heavyweight. Nothing had changed in Usyk’s game since his time in the cruiserweight division. He didn’t look anymore power than he was previously, and he wasn’t that fast.
Dereck Chisora wants Usyk fight 100%
“Come and do what you need to do. Forget the juggling balls and dancing,” said Chisora to skysports.com in talking about Usyk. “Nobody wants to see a dancing show. Come Dancing with the Stars? This is a boxing match.”You know what, I want to have that fight. Yeah, I would take it, 100 percent. No shadiness, nothing, I’ll take that.”
The only way Usyk doesn’t get the Joshua-Ruiz 2 winner next is if the IBF insists mandatory Kubrat Pulev comes next. There are two mandatory defenses due at the same time with the IBF and WBO. Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn suspects that one of the two titles will likely be vacated by the Joshua vs. Ruiz Jr. winner. It’s possible that the WBO belt will be vacated. Pulev, 39, is the easier option for Joshua or Ruiz to fight, because they wouldn’t need to deal with movement. He would be there to be hit.
Beating Usyk would give Chisora chance to fight for world title
It would be an excellent payday for Chisora if he can somehow get a fight against Usyk, and it would give him a chance to earn a title shot against Joshua or Ruiz. If Chisora beats Usyk, he would be the new WBO mandatory, and it would be him that challenges for a world title.
It would have been better if Matchroom had matched Usyk against a solid heavyweight like Chisora for him to prove himself before fighting the Joshua vs. Ruiz winner. Why would they do that though? It’s better for them if the unbeaten Usyk fights for the title. Obviously, looking at Usyk’s performance against Witherspoon, he doesn’t look like he’s cut out to fight at heavyweight. He’s too weak, slow and he marks up too easily. To add to all that, Usyk isn’t young at 32. He’s about to turn 33, and he doesn’t have a lot of time before he’s too old.