{"id":515695,"date":"2025-10-21T00:40:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/515695\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T00:40:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T00:40:11","slug":"oleksandr-usyk-wants-parker-wardley-winner-next-tyson-fury-chapter-closed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/515695\/","title":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk Wants Parker-Wardley Winner Next, Tyson Fury Chapter ‘Closed’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk is targeting a return in the first half of 2026 with Saturday’s winner of Joseph Parker-Fabio Wardley<\/a> the front-runner for a shot at the world heavyweight champion, Usyk\u2019s advisor, Serhii Lapin, tells The Ring<\/a>.
Whoever emerges victorious Saturday in London will be the WBO mandatory for Usyk<\/a>, one of four titles the Ukrainian owns in addition to The Ring\u2019s heavyweight championship.
The WBO is next in the rotation system used for unified champions, and the mandatory defense was ordered in July but delayed due to Usyk\u2019s back injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lapin said Usyk\u2019s recovery from the back injury is \u201cgoing great\u201d after he recently competed a \u201crehabilitation camp.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHe feels good and in excellent shape,\u201d Lapin said. <\/p>\n

Usyk, 38, was noncommittal about fighting again after he stopped Daniel Dubois a second time<\/a> in July, but last week said he planned to fight until age 41. Lapin believes Usyk has perhaps five more fights remaining, but that a third fight with Tyson Fury<\/a> isn\u2019t likely one of them.
The Gypsy King has been pushed for a trilogy bout next year after losing twice to Usyk in 2024<\/a>, but Lapin doesn\u2019t see any reason for such a bout. After all, Usyk is 2-0 against Fury and the rematch was more decisive than the first meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201dTheoretically, it\u2019s an interesting option, but for whom?\u201d Lapin asked. \u201cIf boxing fans truly support it, then maybe. However, in my opinion, that chapter is already closed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) made headlines when he appeared to rule out a future fight with rising star Moses Itauma<\/a>, but Lapin said the matchup is a possibility – just not right now.
Itauma, 20, is unproven at this juncture. He\u2019s coming off a first-round TKO of Dillian Whyte<\/a> in August. And while he\u2019s clearly talented and many believe the next great heavyweight, he\u2019ll need to prove it against a legitimate top-10 heavyweight before Usyk considers him. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say he doesn\u2019t want to fight Itauma,\u201d Lappin said. \u201cHe\u2019s a promising fighter, and his team has done a good job bringing him to this level and ranking. But if we analyze the heavyweight division, besides Usyk, there are plenty of top fighters. <\/p>\n

\u201cItauma still needs a serious test before facing a legend. Have we seen him go the full 12-round distance? Has has been in dangerous situations in the ring? My answer is no. At this stage, he doesn\u2019t have the tools to beat Usyk.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oleksandr Usyk is targeting a return in the first half of 2026 with Saturday’s winner of Joseph Parker-Fabio…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,10188,10181,10187,10186,10179,4496,10182,10183,10184,10185,10180,10193,10192,10175,10173,10174,10190,10176,10172,10194,10189,79,10191,10171,10178,16,15,10177],"class_list":{"0":"post-515695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-boxing-community","10":"tag-boxing-fights","11":"tag-boxing-history","12":"tag-boxing-interviews","13":"tag-boxing-magazine","14":"tag-boxing-news","15":"tag-boxing-photos","16":"tag-boxing-rankings","17":"tag-boxing-results","18":"tag-boxing-schedule","19":"tag-boxing-videos","20":"tag-disqualification","21":"tag-draw","22":"tag-fight","23":"tag-fighter","24":"tag-fighter-news","25":"tag-knockout","26":"tag-latest-boxing-matches","27":"tag-ring","28":"tag-ring-magazine","29":"tag-split-decision","30":"tag-sports","31":"tag-technical-knockout","32":"tag-the-ring","33":"tag-top-fighters","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-upcoming-boxing-matches"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115409376050376637","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}