Warren: Usyk has three more fights

Oleksandr Usyk has three more fights to get through before he hangs up his gloves for good, according to his promoter, Frank Warren. 

After his May fixture against Kickboxer Rico Verhoeven, he will then face the winner of Fabio Wardley against Daniel Dubois. A trilogy bout with Tyson Fury closes the run, and Usyk ends his boxing career.

Speaking with Sky Sports recently, 74-year-old Warren listed the Ukrainian’s plan, sounding quite enthusiastic about it. 

He said: “There’s a lot of frustration because Fabio wanted that [Usyk fight before]. But the fact that Oleksandr has come out and said he wants the winner of the two of them is very encouraging. And certainly for the two guys, it gives them a lot of incentive.”

On the possibility of a Fury trilogy, he said: “If he comes through the fight [against Wardley or Dubois], that he then wants to fight Tyson, I love that fight. The first two fights were close, very exciting fights, really exciting fights, I’d watch that all day long. And Tyson wants that fight. He’s told me on numerous occasions he’d love that fight,

Usyk owns the unified heavyweight titles. He outpointed Fury twice. A stoppage over Dubois followed, where he reclaimed the IBF title he vacated a year earlier. Usyk dropped the WBO belt last year after refusing to fight the mandatory challenger.

That made Wardley a full champion. A Wardley win means he gets to face Usyk at last, while a Dubois victory sets off the second trilogy in Usyk’s heavyweight career.

Warren also talked about the possibility of a trilogy fight with Anthony Joshua, but downplayed it, as he was not sure the British boxer would be returning to the ring any time soon.

Despite that, the promoter still believes that Usyk has what it takes to keep the heavyweight division engaged with the upcoming fixtures they have lined up.