Staying busy, one of boxing reliable formulas, is quickly becoming impossible amid the wave of cancellations forced by the coronavirus pandemic, yet Oleksandr Usyk still has a date he hopes will lead to a busy end to a chaotic year.
May 23 against Dereck Chisora at London’s O2 Arena is still on Usyk’s schedule. How long it will be there is anybody’s guess. Boxing in the United States has gone dark through at least the end of April.
Bouts in early May appear to be tentative. Promoters reportedly have postponed the Canelo Alvarez-Billy Joe Saunders super middleweight fight, scheduled for May 2, until sometime in June, a month that already includes Anthony Joshua’s heavyweight title defense against Kubrat Pulev on the 20th, also in London.
If the coronavirus threat subsides, maybe Usyk-Chisora will be the first bout in boxing’s return. Usyk can only hope. And maybe pray.
“Oleksandr wants to be in the ring to get busy,” Usyk manager Egis Klimas told Sky Sports after the Chisora fight was formally announced last week. “It would be a big problem to not box for a long time.”
Usyk hasn’t fought since his heavyweight debut, a stoppage of late stand-in Chazz Witherspoon in October. Injuries, including one to an elbow, have plagued him. The former cruiserweight champion was initially expected to make his second heavyweight appearance on March 28. Yet, he continues to rank as the mandatory challenger to one of the belts held by Joshua (AJ).
“It’s very good when people talk a lot about Tyson Fury and AJ, because every time they talk they mention me as the mandatory challenger,” said Usyk, No. 5 in Boxing Junkie’s latest pound-for-pound poll.
“I don’t really like to guess what’s going to be in the future. My guess is that everything is pre-defined by the Lord, and all we need to do is to wait for our time to come. But if someone tries to cheat us, we will fight for our rights. Someone may just try to cheat us.”
For now, coronavirus is cheating just about everybody. For now, fighting it is the only fight.
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