Oleksandr Usyk shouldn’t be anticipated to battle once more this yr, says promoter Frank Warren.
It means Joseph Parker, the necessary challenger for the WBO, one of many 4 world championships Usyk holds, will seemingly battle Fabio Wardley subsequent.
“[Usyk] asked for time out from the WBO because of an injury and he provided evidence and that’s the position at the moment,” Warren instructed Sky Sports activities.
“Will he fight before the end of the year? I very much doubt it.”
Each Wardley and Parker, the holders of the WBA and WBO Interim title belts respectively, are in talks to field on the O2 Enviornment in London on October 25.
“We’re quite close to an announcement for a big fight, plus a couple of others,” Warren stated.
“We’re talking about quite a few heavyweight shows which we’re working on right now, hopefully we’ll be in a position very soon, and it’ll have to be very soon because we’re looking for one of them to take place in October.”
It is a signal that, relatively than look ahead to Usyk, Parker and Wardley are prepared to threat their lofty world rankings in a battle towards one another.
“That says a lot about them but that happens in this heavyweight division. The fighters are fighting each other, no one’s ducking anybody. They’re happening and we’re making them happen and they’re making them happen,” Warren stated.
“Everybody wants to see these fights and we’re working very hard to deliver.”
After ruthlessly dispatching Dillian Whyte, Moses Itauma is the rising star of the heavyweight division. Simply 20 years outdated, he’s already extremely rated within the WBO and WBA rankings behind Parker and Wardley, although he isn’t anticipated to field both man subsequent.
“He will fight before the end of the year,” Warren stated of Itauma. “There are great expectations of him. I still temper all that because of his age and whatever.
“This younger man, 13 fights and no senior bouts as an beginner so he is accomplished tremendously properly.
“[Inevitably] he’s going to fight in a really big fight and we’ll see what he’s all about.”