Eddie Hearn says Oleksandr Usyk could fight winner of Dillian Whyte vs Dereck Chisora before Anthony Joshua
Tony Bellew told Hearn that he does not think Usyk is ready for Joshua just yet
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Your support makes all the difference.Eddie Hearn has revealed that Tony Bellew told him Oleksandr Usyk is “not yet ready” for a heavyweight showdown with Anthony Joshua. The boxing promoter instead thinks the Ukrainian should cut his teeth in a fight with either Dillian Whyte or Dereck Chisora.
Usyk defended his WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO cruiserweight titles, as well as the prestigious Ring Magazine belt, with a devastating eighth-round knockout of Tony Bellew at the Manchester Arena.
The Ukrainian was immediately quizzed about a lucrative fight with Joshua after his victory, with the two London 2012 gold medalists both undefeated in their professional careers so far.
However, despite admitting that Usyk was “the best man I have ever stepped into a ring with,” Bellew told Hearn the cruiserweight king is not yet ready to step up and challenge for Joshua’s WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
“Tony said he doesn’t think Usyk is ready for Joshua just yet,” Hearn said. “And although he is heavy duty he is going to have to get bigger. He’ll want to get himself up to 15st. Plus the Usyk team are very clever guys, so they will want a couple of fights at heavyweight before they take on Joshua.
“And with Usyk, when you think about the fight and the schedule he has had, I don’t think he will fight again until April or May. He will probably only box twice in 2019 and, if he wants to box in the UK, he is going to have to fight the winner of Whyte vs Chisora, or somebody like that.
“Take Dillian. Technically Usyk is much better but can he deal with the heavy duty of Dillian? I really don't think anybody can out-skill Usyk but the challenge will be similar to the one Lomachenko is facing: is he too small? Now that he is going to heavy, he is going to be at a disadvantage.”
Usyk was roundly booed when he entered the Manchester Arena to take on Bellew, but left to loud cheers after defending his collection of world titles.
And Hearn believes that the Ukrainian will be a huge hit with British fight fans when they get used to his “quirky” personality.
“I want to sell him on his quirkiness, there is absolutely no point in trying to change his personality,” Hearn added.
“I want to market him on what he is — a genius. Somebody who has got a little bit of a strange mind, someone with deep faith. The amount of times I’ve seen him this week and he just looks like some bloke who works at the hotel, walking around with his hoody on, chatting to everyone.
“| want us all to go Kiev and to his house and follow him around for a day. I saw him walking around the hotel this morning with his Bible at breakfast, he went to the local church, I didn’t even know he was married, you find out these things. He’s just a fascinating individual and energy.”
Hearn also revealed that not even an early morning fire alarm — plus the lingering suspicion that somebody at Matchroom Boxing was up to no good — was enough to distract Usyk ahead of his first ever fight on UK soil.
“The fire alarm went off at four-o’clock in the morning and I just would have loved to have been a fly on the wall in his room,” Hearn said.
“I had dinner with K2 [Usyk’s management team] last night and they said ‘thank you, there’s been no mind games’ and then, suddenly, there was that fire alarm! Usyk came down at breakfast the next day and asked me if it was Tony and I had to say ‘no, no, no’. He also thought it was me!
“He is just a very cool guy, and he is a promoter’s dream.”
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