Eddie Hearn insists ‘only one man can beat’ Oleksandr Usyk after laying waste to Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois
Oleksandr Usyk has barely put a foot wrong during his unblemished 23-0 professional career – but Eddie Hearn believes one man could push him all the way.
The Ukrainian slickster is the current pound-for-pound king of boxing and is one of only three male fighters in the four-belt era to achieve undisputed supremacy in two separate weight classes (alongside Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford).
Oleksandr Usyk has barely put a foot wrong during his unblemished 23-0 professional career – but Eddie Hearn believes one man could push him all the way.
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The Ukrainian slickster is the current pound-for-pound king of boxing and is one of only three male fighters in the four-belt era to achieve undisputed supremacy in two separate weight classes (alongside Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford).
But the masterful technician proved his doubters wrong by outclassing the Watford powerhouse in back-to-back bouts.Usyk then laid waste to the fast-rising Daniel Dubois before taking on WBC champion Tyson Fury in May 2024 for the undisputed crown.
‘The Cat’ edged their epic inaugural encounter via split decision and subsequently widened the margin in their rematch seven months later.
In between the two fights, Usyk was forced to relinquish the IBF title to Dubois in order to pursue his rematch with Fury.
However, Hearn believes lineal cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia has the best chance of beating him.
“I’m looking down the road, Jai is humble,” Hearn told ESNEWS after Opetaia’s recent blowout of David Nyika.
He’s committed to the cruiserweight division but for me one of the best of all time was Usyk, he became undisputed, moved up and became undisputed at heavyweight.
“The medium focus right now is every belt in the division and the long-term focus is to fight Usyk for the unified heavyweight world championship.
“I believe he is the only fighter who can give Usyk a real fight over the next 12-18 months.”
Opetaia is the consensus best fighter at 200lbs and is currently in possession of the IBF and Ring Magazine titles.He won the belts by dethroning former cruiserweight leader Mairis Briedis in 2022 and has been chasing unification fights to no avail ever since.
The expectation is that he will eventually move up to heavyweight once he has conquered his weight class.
But Usyk, now 38, will likely be retired by the time he steps up.
