The prospect of Oleksandr Usyk facing Anthony Joshua in a third fight is not realistic, the champ’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, has informed World Boxing News.
Following a statement by World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman confirming they would sanction Joshua to face the winner of Tyson Fury vs Usyk on May 18, Krassyuk doubts the trilogy fight will ever occur.
Usyk has already defeated Joshua twice, once in 2021 and a second time in 2022. Both victories were convincing and showed Usyk was a level above the Briton.
Realistically, Sulaiman’s acceptance of Joshua facing the Fury vs Usyk victor is geared towards a triumph for ‘The Gypsy King.’ Should Usyk win, the Ukrainian master must defend the title against Filip Hrgovic if Fury doesn’t trigger a rematch clause. This means Joshua would still need to position himself as the mandatory challenger. The only way for AJ to do that would be to get Hrgovic in the ring before Usyk faces him.
Even then, Krassyuk says Joshua wouldn’t be licking his lips at the prospect of going up against Usyk again.
“I am not sure AJ wants the third one deep in his heart. It seems to be dangerous,” Krassyuk exclusively told World Boxing News. “It might look like a gambling addiction to many.
“After you’ve lost money on roulette, you come back full of confidence. You bet twice or three times more than you’ve lost, expecting your bet to win. But in the end, you realize that you have lost everything.”
He added: “One more thing that makes their third fight less probable is the sequence of the mandatories. As we all know, the next stop of the carousel is IBF, not the WBC. No matter who wins, the rematch goes next as we will enforce it. And even if the IBF let it [the mandatory] go, after the second fight – the IBF is next in line, not the WBC.”
Therefore, unless Fury wins twice [the first fight and a rematch], Joshua is out of the world title loop. Like the roulette analogy, Joshua has a fifty-fifty chance of fighting for a world title once the dust settles on Fury vs Usyk I and II. Should Usyk complete his mission and wake up with all the titles on May 19, there would then have to be a certain amount of clarity to make the situation easier to manage.
The IBF will order Hrgovic to get his opportunity, probably within days. So Usyk will need Fury to give him a firm answer on a rematch to fulfill the IBF’s wishes. If that happens, it will undoubtedly be Usyk vs Hrgovic next before either Joseph Parker gets his shot [WBO number one] or the WBC stipulation kicks in.
This leaves Joshua with zero prospect of becoming the three-time heavyweight champion he desires or ever completing his mission of emulating Lennox Lewis and becoming a four-belt titleholder.
In all likelihood, Joshua vs Fury will probably still go ahead, win [twice] or lose against Usyk. That’s unless Fury decides to stay away for good and forfeit the chance to trade blows with his career rival.
Read all articles and learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor Phil Jay.
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