Oleksandr Usyk's team had already begun talking about a prospective mandatory title defence against Daniel Dubois while negotiations were breaking down over a fight with Tyson Fury.
The Ukrainian is the unified WBO, IBF and WBA super champion at heavyweight, and was pushing for an undisputed bout with WBC title holder Fury at Wembley Stadium on April 29. He took an absurd 70/30 purse split that would have amounted to a huge $40million pay cut in order to get the bout over the line, but talks still fell apart at the last minute.
And he is now expected to be slapped with mandatory challenges from the WBA, whose regular belt is held by Dubois, and the IBF whose challenger is Filip Hrgovic. Understanding the likelihood of that situation, Usyk's team began discussing the possibility of a fight with the London native, who is also promoted by Frank Warren.
