Eddie Hearn Claims ‘Only One Man’ Can Defeat the Undisputed P4P King Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Usyk is recognised as the current P4P king. He is only the third man to become undisputed in two separate weight divisions, in the four belt division era joining Terence Crawford & Naoya Inoue.
Oleksandr Usyk became WBO Cruiserweight World Champion back in 2016 when he defeated Krzysztof Glowacki via UD. He then defended that strap three times before unifying versus Mairis Briedis in one of Usyk toughest and closest fights to date. He then became the undisputed king when he unified all the belts in an impressive win versus Murat Gassiev in enemy territory. Just four months later he defended those belts versus Tony Bellew stopping him in the eighth round.
After he defeated Tony Bellew, he made the decision to move up to heavyweight. He recorded two shutout wins over Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora, before landing a mammoth clash with the WBA,IBF & WBO World Champion, Anthony Joshua despite many doubters claiming he was ‘too small’ to even have a chance to beat AJ.
However, the technical Ukrainian proved everyone wrong when he defeated the powerhouse AJ twice back to back. Usyk wasted no time to then produce a destructive performance versus Daniel Dubois, stopping him in the 9th round.
Who Can Defeat Oleksandr Usyk?
Usyk then landed the Undisputed ‘fight of the decade’ versus Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season. He then produced two epic performances and edged both the fights, with a more convincing decision in the rematch, despite Fury thinking otherwise. Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas now believes there’s just one fight left for Usyk. Which is the rematch versus Daniel Dubois but this time for the undisputed crown.
However, Matchrooms Eddie Hearn has other ideas. Hearn believes the destructive Aussi Jai Opetaia has the greatest chance of beating Usyk. After Jai beat David Nyika via brutal knockout, he said:
“He’s committed to the cruiserweight division but for me one of the best of all time was Usyk. He became undisputed, moved up and became undisputed at heavyweight.
“The medium focus right now is every belt in the division and the long-term focus is to fight Usyk for the unified heavyweight world championship.
“I believe he is the only fighter who can give Usyk a real fight over the next 12-18 months.”
Jai Opetaia is currently seen as the man to beat in the Cruiserweight Division. Jai holds the IBF & Ring Magazine Titles in which he won by defeating former Usyk opponent Mairis Briedis in 2022. He has been longing for a unification fight since but has had no luck.
The expectation is for Jai to move up to heavyweight. However his current aim is to clean up at cruiser and became undisputed. However with Usyk being 38 retirement is looming for the Ukrainian king.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
