Oleksandr Usyk has hinted that he could return to cruiserweight in the future which would open the door to a fight with Canelo Alvarez.
Usyk previously reigned as undisputed cruiserweight champion before making the leap to the blue-riband division where he recently defended his unified world titles for the first time against Anthony Joshua. The Ukrainian has made a huge impression defeating the likes of Chisora and Joshua twice, despite concerns that his size may not be enough to help him prevail.
Although he has made the weight shift relatively seamless, Usyk has spoken about a potential fight with Mexican star Alvarez who is willing to make the huge step-up to meet him there. And the 35-year-old has dropped his biggest hint yet as he revealed that he struggles with the sheer amount of eating he is required to do to make weight.
“I was thinking about returning to cruiserweight and getting a few more of the world belts," Usyk said during an interview with Parimatch when assessing a potential fight with Alvarez in the future. "You know, being a heavyweight means you have to be really heavy. You must eat a lot. It’s not hard to fight with these giants, but it’s really hard to eat all the time.
"And now I work much more than I did as a cruiserweight, particularly in the training camps. I had to swim ten kilometres and train hard. At this moment I just want to stop and take a rest. A half of a year of training is hard work. I didn’t see my family for such a long time, I didn’t see my wife, children or anyone.”
Alvarez has just beaten Gennady Golovkin in his return to 168lb where he reigns as an undisputed champion. The 32-year-old attempted to make a second successful leap up to light-heavyweight against Dmitry Bivol years after defeating Sergey Kovalev to become world champion.
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However it ended in disaster with the Russian putting in a slick boxing masterclass to stun Alvarez and give him his second career defeat. Despite acknowledging the size of the challenge it would take to overcome Usyk in a fight, the undisputed champion's promoter Eddie Hearn has revealed he wants to make yet another switch up in weight.
“When we talk about mindset and winning, he genuinely believes he can beat Oleksandr Usyk for the world heavyweight title," he revealed. He said to me ‘if you can make that fight at one pound above cruiserweight [200lbs] I will beat him'. I find it hard not to believe him.
"Sometimes, the only way someone like Canelo Alvarez or Vasyl Lomachenko gets beat is when they keep moving up in weight outside of where they should be. That’s maybe how Canelo Alvarez gets beat, (when) it’s a challenge too far.”
