OLEKSANDR USYK showed his class as he beat Dereck Chisora at Wembley Arena – but not without a scare.
Del Boy put up a terrific fight and took Usyk the distance, where all three judges narrowly scored it the way of the Ukrainian.
And Anthony Joshua is ready to take on the challenge of fighting Usyk if a bout with Tyson Fury can’t be agreed.
Follow ALL the reaction from Wembley Arena below…
FACE THE USYK
Oleksandr Usyk has Anthony Joshua well within his sights having remained his mandatory challenger.
Usyk beat Dereck Chisora on points and in doing so remained the No1 contender for Joshua’s WBO belt.
And the former cruiserweight king ramped up the pressure on AJ by demanding he either fights him next or vacates the titles.
Eddie Hearn – who promotes both – revealed if Joshua cannot fight Tyson Fury, then he will ‘100 per cent’ fight Usyk.
Here, SunSport compares the superstars ahead of a potential heavyweight headliner next year.
FRANKLY SPEAKING
Tyson Fury has chosen to fight Agit Kabayel on his UK homecoming, promoter Frank Warren revealed.
The Gypsy King has decided to walk away from a trilogy bout with Deontay Wilder, after the rematch clause expired last month.
Warren confirmed the news on talkSPORT and revealed a contract is being sent to Kabayel – a former sparring partner of Joshua’s.
He said: “Tyson’s fighting on December 5.
“We’re giving the guy we wanna fight, which is Kabayel, we’re giving him 24 hours now to sign the contract or we’re gonna move on.
“He’s undefeated and has a win on his record over Derek Chisora. He [was] the European champion and he’s ranked by the WBC.
“That’s who’s sitting at the moment on a contract and we’re waiting.
“He’s got about 24 hours now to make his mind up to sign it and send it back or we’ll move on. He’s the fight, subject to the contract being signed.”
LO’S BLOWS
Gervonta Davis and Teofimo Lopez’s recent breakthrough wins shook up boxing’s mythical pound-for-pound rankings.
Vasilily Lomachenko came up against a younger and bigger man in a weight class about three divisions above his natural home as Lopez stunned the Ukrainian.
Here SunSport’s Wally Downes Jr ranks the top ten…
FIGHT OR FLIGHT
Anthony Joshua’s clash with Kubrat Pulev could still end up being staged abroad — to cover an £8million Covid KO.
Watford hero AJ’s mandatory defence against the Bulgarian was meant to be at Tottenham’s new stadium in June, securing him a monster payday.
But the coronavirus crisis forced the fight to be delayed until December 12.
Promoter Eddie Hearn secured London’s O2 to host it and pleaded with Government to allow some socially distanced fans inside.
But latest lockdown rules floored that idea — leaving a huge financial blackhole.
And that may force them to seek out a venue outside the UK after Saudi Arabia stumped up £100m for Joshua’s 2019 rematch win against Andy Ruiz.
Having watched Oleksandr Usyk outpoint Derek Chisora on Saturday at Wembley Arena, Hearn said: “We have the best bubble in boxing and elite sport is not part of lockdown.
“We can sustain it — but we want to be a profitable business.
“We lost what would have been a £2m gate at the O2 for this fight.
“We made it up by sticking some of ours in, Sky adding some and the fighters taking less to balance it out.
“AJ was going to take £8m on the gate at Spurs so obviously he is taking a pay cut.
“We will try to have fans at the Joshua fight — but we could also take it somewhere internationally.”
TEAR GER-KING
Floyd Mayweather, 43, insisted his protege Gervonta Davis is top of the pile.
He said: “We really want to enjoy this victory. Soon, a fight is over, the first ten seconds ‘Who do you wanna fight? Who do you wanna fight?’
“Tank is the top dog. Tank is on pay-per-view for a reason. Tank is where he is at for a reason.
“So we don’t wanna come up here and call different names, we wanna fight him, we wanna fight him, we don’t want to do that.
“What we wanna do is let him go home, enjoy himself, his daughter, his family, his team, and then we will talk about that, 20-30 days from now, but he should be able to enjoy his victory.”
U GOT A DEAL
Anthony Joshua will ‘one million per cent’ face Oleksandr Usyk if a fight with Tyson Fury cannot be agreed, reveals Eddie Hearn.
Usyk maintained his mandatory position for Joshua’s WBO belt after beating Dereck Chisora on points on Saturday.
Hearn said: “AJ wants to fight Usyk.
“It’s all business, money is important to them but Usyk wants a heavyweight world title.
“If we can’t make the Fury fight and AJ beats Pulev, he is fighting Usyk one million per cent.”
SANTA’S LITTLE YELPER
Leo Santa Cruz has tweeted to reassure fans he is “OK” after being taken to hospital after Gervonta Davis knocked him out with one of the punches of the year.
American Davis added the Mexican’s WBA super-lightweight crown to his own WBA lightweight title with a stunning left uppercut in round six.
USYK ULTIMATUM
Oleksandr Usyk has demanded Anthony Joshua fights him or relinquishes his WBO heavyweight belt.
The Ukrainian heavyweight outpointed Dereck Chisora on Saturday night to reinforce his status as mandatory challenger.
He told Sky Sports News: “I am the mandatory for Joshua so he has two options.
“One; to fight me. Two; to vacate and to go and fight Fury. Either he fights me or relinquishes.”
WILD CLAIM
Deontay Wilder sensationally claimed his ‘water was SPIKED’ against Tyson Fury.
The desperate American released a video online listing several excuses nine months after he was dethroned of the WBC title by Fury.
In a fresh accusation with absolutely no evidence provided, Wilder has said his drink was tampered with, which he claims weakened his legs.
He told 78SPORTSTV: “About 15 minutes before going out to the fight, warming up on the mitts, it was perfect, I felt great.
“Until I went to the ring. That transformation, I was drinking certain water and stuff, trying to keep myself hydrated.
“I just start feeling weird. My water was spiked as if I took a muscle relaxer or something like that.”
ED LOSS
Eddie Hearn blasted Deontay Wilder’s ‘ridiculous’ allegations of cheating made at Tyson Fury and said ‘Let the real men go at it’.
Wilder accused Fury of loading his gloves with ‘something hard’ and slammed him for cancelling their trilogy bout.
Hearn told iFL TV’s Kugan Cassius: “It’s ridiculous. “Listen, park him to the side, let the big boys, the real men go at it.
“Unless you’ve got any real substance then be quiet, go back to the drawing board, work harder, let the hunger burn to become champion again.
“It’s gone from the costume, to now he’s been found out about AJ, to now something about the gloves. It’s getting worse and worse.”
BELLEW’S VIEW
Tony Bellew says he was ‘gutted’ to see his mate Derek Chisora lose on points to former undisputed cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk.
And Bellew took to Twitter to congratulate the Ukrainian. In a tweet Bellew said: “Gutted last night! Thought it was a really good fight and one I need to look back on!
“I thought it was close and speaking to Alex (Usyk Man) who had it draw I was struggling to see anything but a close one!
“Fair play to the champ he’s proven he’s a heavyweight to be reckoned with.”
WILD POST
Deontay Wilder’s full video and Instagram post where he calls out Tyson Fury.
Some outlandish claims…
THE MORNING AFTER
Dereck Chisora said he was ‘gutted’ after losing to Oleksandr Usyk on points.
Chisora slammed his Ukrainian opponent and said on his Instagram story: “Homeboy was running away like a motherf*****.”
USYK ULTIMATUM
Oleksandr Usyk has demanded Anthony Joshua fights him or relinquishes his WBO heavyweight belt.
The Ukrainian heavyweight outpointed Dereck Chisora on Saturday night to reinforce his status as mandatory challenger.
He told Sky Sports News: “I am the mandatory for Joshua so he has two options.
“One; to fight me. Two; to vacate and to go and fight Fury. Either he fights me or relinquishes.”
ED LOSS
Eddie Hearn blasted Deontay Wilder’s ‘ridiculous’ allegations of cheating made at Tyson Fury and said ‘Let the real men go at it’.
Wilder accused Fury of loading his gloves with ‘something hard’ and slammed him for cancelling their trilogy bout.
Hearn told iFL TV’s Kugan Cassius: “It’s ridiculous. “Listen, park him to the side, let the big boys, the real men go at it.
“Unless you’ve got any real substance then be quiet, go back to the drawing board, work harder, let the hunger burn to become champion again.
“It’s gone from the costume, to now he’s been found out about AJ, to now something about the gloves. It’s getting worse and worse.”
BACKSTAGE VIEW
Check out Matchroom’s exclusive peak behind the scenes after Oleksandr Usyk outpointed Dereck Chisora.
WILD CLAIM
Deontay Wilder sensationally claimed his ‘water was SPIKED’ against Tyson Fury.
The desperate American released a video online listing several excuses nine months after he was dethroned of the WBC title by Fury.
In a fresh accusation with absolutely no evidence provided, Wilder has said his drink was tampered with, which he claims weakened his legs.
He told 78SPORTSTV: “About 15 minutes before going out to the fight, warming up on the mitts, it was perfect, I felt great.
“Until I went to the ring. That transformation, I was drinking certain water and stuff, trying to keep myself hydrated.
“I just start feeling weird. My water was spiked as if I took a muscle relaxer or something like that.”
WORKED TILL THE BELL
Tony Bellew belives Dereck Chisora’s hard work in the ring against Oleksandr Usyk means not many would have complained if he’d been given the decision by the judges.
Bellew: Chisora outworked Usyk 👀@TonyBellew says there would not have been too many complaints if Derek Chisora had been given the decision against Oleksandr Usyk.
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) November 1, 2020
ROAD WARRIOR
Usyk has fought – and WON – in sixth different countries in his last nine fights.
CAMERA SHY
Chisora’s team acted swiftly to BLOCK the in-dressing room camera as they went through fight tactics.
The Brit was just minutes away from his mouthwatering clash against Oleksandr Usyk when Sky Sports Box Office went to their cameras.
One of his trainers was talking about boxing movement with Chisora, who was seated on an exercise bike.
Realising that what was being discussed was going live, another member of the team quickly moved towards the camera and pointed the lens to the floor.
There was then some searching around for a towel to make sure no secrets got out.
Just minutes later his rival Usyk decided to use TAPE to cover up his camera – maybe Sky Sports will be reviewing these live cameras for next time.
FROM WLAD TO WORSE
Wladimir Klitschko has accused Tyson Fury of using drugs again.
Fury, 32, stunned the world when he went to Germany in 2015 and totally outboxed the ten-year champion to become the unified king.
And, five years later, when the WBC sanctioning body asked their Twitter followers how Wladimir’s older brother Vitali would have done in this era,
Fury had another pop at the fighting family.
The Gypsy King wrote: “Would [have] loved to kick his ass also.” Wladimir saw the message and dived in to defend his elder sibling, who was a three-time heavyweight world champion between 1999 and 2012.
The retired legend slammed Fury for never having their rematch and brought up sick comments the Brit made in his checkered past.
MACK THE KNIFE
Matthew Macklin has revealed his scorecard for Chisora-Usyk, with one clear winner.
TED TALK
Hall Of Fame trainer Teddy Atlas has had his say on the fight.
NOT JUST WORLD, UNDISPUTED
Oleksandr Usyk was quick to pick up on the interviewer after his points triumph over Derek Chisora at Wembley Stadium.
When asked if he was still aiming for the world heavyweight title, having moved up from cruiserweight, he said: “Not just world, undisputed.”
ANT AND DECKED
Anthony Joshua was an eager ringside viewer at Wembley Stadium. Usyk is now mandatory for his WBO belt.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
