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Oleksandr Usyk insists he is not interested in winning the WBC title anymore – he just wants to fight ‘beautiful’ Tyson Fury in a clash for the ages.
WBA, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight champion Usyk withdrew from lengthy negotiations regarding an undisputed fight with Fury at Wembley over a disagreement about the terms of the rematch clause.
Now Usyk will fight his WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois in Poland next month while Fury will take on MMA fighter Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia.
It means Usyk will not get the chance to add the WBC title to his other three belts this year but he is adamant his desire to fight Fury has nothing to with becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion.
On Fury, he said: “He’s beautiful, he’s funny. I don’t think about him at all, I just need to meet him in the ring.
“I don’t even care about the belt anymore. I need him, I need him, the WBC title is just a little extra motivation but the people and the fans just need to see us fight.
“We need to fight, we need to fight. People talk about this fight for 20, 30, 40 years so we need to have the fight.”
Usyk will be an overwhelming favorite in Wroclaw on August 26 but Dubois’ promoter Frank Warren is convinced the London heavyweight will pull off one of the biggest shocks in the division’s history by knocking out the Ukrainian icon.
Usyk said: “Dubois is young and good, he’s a prospect but Frank Warren is a promoter so he has to talk a lot.”
When asked whether Dubois represents a harder night’s work than Anthony Joshua, who he has outpointed twice, Usyk added: “Joshua is Olympic champion and two-time world champion. But I just need to prepare for the Dubois fight, I don’t need to compare opponents.”