Oleksandr Usyk wants to fight on May 18th even if Tyson Fury pulls out of their fight again.
The undisputed clash has already been postponed twice, firstly the December 23rd date was moved after Fury nearly came unstuck against Francis Ngannou.
Then the February 17th date was scuppered by a cut that ‘The Gypsy King’ suffered in sparring.
This leaves the new May 18th date that is set for Fury vs Usyk to claim all of the heavyweight titles.
Talks were underway between Usyk’s camp and mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic and Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk has revealed plans are in place, should the fight be postponed again. He said: “In case he [Fury] withdraws from the fight, a replacement should be foreseen in advance. In case, for some reason, he has a cut on his heel or anything, a fight will take place under any circumstances.”
When asked how close he was to securing a deal with Hrgovic, Krassyuk replied: “In my heart it was already done and with Oleksandr it was almost done as well, but it’s up to the Saudis to decide because it’s their show. They are organising it and it’s their decision, we did everything we could to save the show. We saw reports saying Filip Hrgovic was ready to take the fight but it is what it is. We are now preparing for May 18, whomever the opponent is.”
