Oleksandr Usyk has one eye on Tyson Fury ahead of his latest fight.
The unified WBA, IBF, and WBO heavyweight world champion will put his belts on the line against WBA mandatory challenger, Daniel Dubois, live on talkSPORT, this weekend.
Usyk will enter the ring in Wroclaw, Poland, on Saturday night, a big favourite, and confident of dealing with one British opponent before chasing another.
Ahead of his 21st professional fight, the undefeated Ukrainian was asked by talkSPORT’s Gareth A. Davies to send a message to the only other major heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury.
Usyk replied with a smile: “See you later… Queen.”
The 36-year-old earned chuckles from those around him before pointing out to his interviewer that he was mocking Fury’s famous ‘Gyspy King’ nickname.
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“The Gypsy Queen, yeah,” Usyk added.
However, he was sure to make it clear he was just messing about and went back to using his favourite name for the man he's been trying to fight all year.
Usyk signed off: “Greedy belly, I love you!”
Boxing’s best heavyweights were supposed to meet in a four-belt undisputed fight at London’s Wembley Stadium on April 29.
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Usyk agreed to take a 30 per cent purse split but later withdrew from negotiations and his promoter, Alex Krassyuk, accused Fury of making ‘disrespectful demands.’
Fans got excited that the bout may still happen in 2023 when Saudi's Skill Challenge Entertainment said they intended to table huge offers for Fury vs Usyk and Anthony Joshua vs Deontay Wilder to take place in December.
Unfortunately, talks didn’t progress quickly enough, and Fury opted to face former UFC champion Francis Ngannou on October 28, ruling out a clash with Usyk until next year.
If he gets by Dubois on Saturday, Usyk has another mandatory to deal with.
Filip Hrgovic recently cemented himself as the number one contender for Usyk’s IBF title by stopping Demsey McKean on the same card Joshua knocked out Robert Helenius.
The undefeated Croatian won't allow Fury to fight Usyk first.
“According to all the rules, I should be next," he told talkSPORT.
“There’s no unification fight. They had all the time in the world to make that unification and they didn’t want to do that.
“So, you vacate the titles, or you fight your mandatory, that should be the case.”
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