By Charles Brun: Oleksandr Usyk sent a creep message to Dereck Chisora on Saturday that sounded like something out of a movie. The former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) was running on the beach with his son and a friend, and the repeatedly saying, “Dereck” in a way that could only be interpreted as a warning.
Usyk looks slim right now, and he’s looking more like a cruiserweight than a heavyweight. His attempts at bulking up have failed. With four months to go before Usyk and Chisora hook up in November, there’s much time for Oleksandr to bulk up and add weight to his thin frame.
Chisora is likely to be enjoying a 45+ pound weight advantage against Usyk when they battle it out. In Chisora’s last fight against David Price, he weighed 260 pounds in stopping him in the fourth round on October 26 at the O2 Arena in London, England. For his part, Usyk weighed 215 lbs for his last contest against Chazz Witherspoon, and he didn’t show any power in that fight.
Usyk getting ready for Chisora
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk is a cruiserweight that has thus far not gotten his feet wet yet against an upper-tier heavyweight. In Usyk’s heavyweight debut last October, he was matched against 38-year-old Chazz Witherspoon, who looks old, out of shape and nowhere near the fighter he’d been 15 years ago when he was in his prime.
Usyk wore Witherspoon down with shots until the fight was halted in the seventh. The troubling thing about the match was how marked up Usyk looked at the end, and his unimpressive he was. What should have been an easy fight for Usyk turned out to be a lot more complicated than many boxing fans thought it would be.
That could be a sign that Usyk has taken a step too far in going up in weight. The difference between Usyk competing against fighters in the 200-lb weight class and the heavyweight division is enormous.
Usyk and the 36-year-old Chisora (32-9, 23 KOs) will be facing each other in the fall in either November or December. Their promoter Eddie Hearn still hasn’t picked out a date or a venue for the fight, but it’s likely to take place in November.
“Dereck, where are you, Dereck?” said Usyk on social media on Saturday. “I’m run. Dereck. Dereck, I watch you run. Time to run. Dereck, how are you?”
Chisora looks like he’s in good shape as of this week, and he’s not going to take this fight with 33-year-old Usyk lightly. Usyk is the WBO mandatory to IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. If Chisora can pull off the upset against the heavily favored Usyk, then it would be him facing Joshua in the first half of 2021.
Dereck with a chance to earn Joshua fight
That’s a fight that Chisora has wanted since AJ turned professional in 2013, and now he’s got a chance to put himself in a position to realize his dream. It would be a massive payday for Chisora if he can get the Joshua fight.
Hearn would like to stage the Usyk vs. Chisora fight in front of a crowd if possible, even if it’s a smaller crowd. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated this week that masses would be allowed back into sporting events beginning in October. Just how many fans will be permitted to attend boxing fans is the big question.
I keep myself in shape 💪🏻🥊 #boxing #usyk17 #2020 pic.twitter.com/1WlLpEyrVy
— Alexander Usyk (@usykaa) June 29, 2020
With all the weight that Usyk will be giving away against Chisora, it’s possible he could lose on size alone.
The pandemic has wiped out a year of Usyk’s career, as it has with Chisora, and it’s going to be tough. If Usyk is blown out by Joshua next year, then that could be the only big-paying he has at heavyweight.
Usyk doesn’t look big enough or powerful enough to beat the huge guys in the division., and that’s not something that’s going to change as the years roll by. In Usyk’s last two fights against Witherspoon and Tony Bellew, he’s failed to impress.
The writing might be on the wall that Usyk’s career will mainly be over after he gets his title shot against Joshua, and he might not even that fight. Usyk didn’t earn his #1 ranking with the WBO at heavyweight. He was GIVEN because he held the WBO cruiserweight title.