IBF/WBA/WBC/WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksander Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs) says he’s not ready to face Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) for his IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles when he moves up in weight in 2019. Usyk wants to wait a while before he faces Joshua for his titles.
Last Saturday, Usyk showed that he could beat a former heavyweight in stopping Tony Bellew (30-3-1, 20 KOs) in the 8th round in front of a large crowd of Bellew’s loyal fans at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Usyk, 31, overcame a slow start in the first four rounds to come on in the second half of the fight to knockout Bellew with a single left hand punch in the 8th round.
The performance showed that Usyk needs to improve by leaps and bounds before he takes on the 6’6″ 245 lb Joshua. Although the 200 lb Usyk isn’t far behind the 215 lb WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder in weight, he’s not even close to being near the 245 lb Joshua.
“In actuality, I have more work,” Usyk said. “I used to dream a lot. Becoming the heavyweight champion is not what I’m dreaming of. It’s my goal. It’s too early [to challenge for a world title against IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua]. If you want to speak of it, speak of it, but I want to wait a little bit. I
want to see things in a real light. My dream is all people will respect each other,” Usyk said.
Usyk proved that he could hang with and beat a huge heavyweight in 6’6″ Joe Joyce when he fought him in the World Series of Boxing in 2012/2013. Joyce weighed in the 230s at the time. He’s improved a lot since then, so it might not be as easy for Usyk to defeat him now.
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The fight showed that Usyk has the boxing skills to defeat an opponent much bigger than him. If he can do that against Joyce, then perhaps he can outbox Joshua as well.