The final two fights of Oleksandr Usyk’s illustrious career will be in the heavyweight division, and no lower.
The Ukrainian slickster recently revealed to talkSPORT.com that he will face the winner of Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker in his next fight.
After which, he is expected to have one more bout before hanging up his gloves.
Usyk isn’t certain who his final bow will come against but he did confirm that it will be at heavyweight.
The former cruiserweight king ruled out a move back to his original weight class and turned his nose up at the idea of fighting in the newly erected bridgerweight division.
The weight class (200lbs-224lbs), which sits between cruiserweight and heavyweight, was established in 2020 and is recognised by two of the four major sanctioning bodies – the WBC and WBA.
Muslim Gadzhimagomedov is the WBA’s champion while Kevin Lerena was upgraded to full champion last year after Lawrence Okolie vacated the belt in order to move up to heavyweight.
Usyk could technically become a three-weight world champion if he were to win a fight against one of the two champions at the weight, although its lack of prestige means it is of no interest to the future Hall of Famer.
“I will say no,” he told talkSPORT.com. “I don’t think about it.
“I have cruiserweight and heavyweight. Bridgerweight is new? Only one belt?
“Two belts then. I fight for four.”
Usyk is one of only three male two-weight undisputed champions in the four-belt era alongside Naoya Inoue and Terence Crawford.
He first unified all the titles at cruiserweight by defeating heavy-handed Russian Murat Gassiev in the 2018 World Boxing Super Series: Cruiserweight final.
And then did the same at heavyweight just under six years later when he beat Tyson Fury in their inaugural encounter.
A bridgerweight title wouldn’t do much for his legacy, however, he has been offered the opportunity by former WBC champion Okolie in the past.
“If Usyk decides he wants to be a three-weight world champion and I don’t know how many belts there are at bridgerweight now, but there is an opportunity for that as well,” Okolie told iFL TV last year.
“I fancy that, I feel like everyone else has had their shot [at Usyk] and I want to go and test it.
“It might sound crazy to other people and I look at him and he is sensational and very talented, but I have attributes that he hasn’t had to box against for a long time including speed and stuff like that.
“I’d love that if he wants a legacy fight, I’m a two-weight world champion now (previously WBO cruiserweight title holder), if he feels like becoming three-weight then let’s do it.”
