{"id":986823,"date":"2026-05-26T23:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/986823\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T23:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T23:17:14","slug":"frank-sanchez-happy-to-take-on-all-comers-while-he-waits-for-oleksandr-usyk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/986823\/","title":{"rendered":"Frank Sanchez happy to take on all-comers while he waits for Oleksandr Usyk"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">Frank Sanchez shined while in the heavyweight shop window on Saturday night when he stopped Richard Torrez Jnr in two rounds to gain mandatory status with the IBF.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Cuban\u2019s demolition of Torrez reminded fans of his potential, something perhaps forgotten since he was beaten by Agit Kabayel in 2023. More importantly, it allowed the 33-year-old to formally take his place in the queue for division leader, Oleksandr Usyk.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But that queue likely has at least two names ahead of Sanchez, 26-1 (19 KOs). Seemingly leading is Kabayel, the WBC interim beltholder, with Rico Verhoeven, who gave Usyk such trouble in Egypt\u2019s main event, emerging from nowhere to find himself looking over Kabayel\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For now, that\u2019s fine, says Sanchez\u2019s manager Mike Barao. That his heavyweight is now injury-free and firing on all cylinders under the guidance of Eddy Reynoso, means that things are only going to get better.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cFrank sent a strong reminder that he is one of the most dangerous fighters in the division,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/boxing\/news\/12040\/13547891\/frank-sanchez-cuban-heavyweight-hoping-for-oleksandr-usyk-title-fight-as-soon-as-possible-after-richard-torrez-jr-ko\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Borao told\u00a0Sky Sports<\/a>.<br \/>\u201cAn injury temporarily slowed his momentum, but he\u2019s now back in top form and ready to make the best of his mandatory status.<br \/>\u201cI\u2019m currently reviewing options [for Sanchez\u2019s next fight] with my partner, Lupe Valencia. As the mandatory challenger, our primary goal is to fight Usyk as soon as possible, but we\u2019ll see how that develops over the next few weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Because Usyk holds three of the four major belts (WBC, IBF, and WBA), he will soon be forced into facing his mandatories. If the 39-year-old wants to keep all of his belts \u2013 and he\u2019s relinquished titles in the past \u2013 he will next have to face Kabayel, then the WBA will call their mandatory, before the IBF take their turn.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIn the meantime, if fights against top heavyweights like [Daniel] Dubois, [Deontay] Wilder, [Anthony] Joshua, [Tyson] Fury, Verhoeven, [Francis] Ngannou or others become available, Frank has no problem staying active against elite competition while waiting for his world title shot,&#8221; Borao said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Much of what happens will be guided by Usyk\u2019s decision on his next move. There will be pressure to face Verhoeven again, given the contentious nature of Usyk\u2019s 11th round stoppage victory. Kabayel will also expect to get his overdue shot at the Ukrainian.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Another option is that Usyk, 25-0 (16 KOs) and 39 years old, simply calls time on his glittering career.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe hope Frank gets the opportunity to box Usyk,\u201d Borao added, \u201cbut ultimately that decision rests with him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Frank Sanchez shined while in the heavyweight shop window on Saturday night when he stopped Richard Torrez Jnr&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":986824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,4496,4495,16526,45814,5122,105982,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-986823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-news","tag-boxingscene","tag-frank-sanchez","tag-heavyweight-boxing","tag-oleksandr-usyk","tag-richard-torrez","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116643433321639649","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986823","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=986823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/986823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/986824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=986823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=986823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=986823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}