Serhii Lapin explains why Usyk called out Wilder
Today
Serhii Lapin, director of the team of WBA, WBC, IBF and IBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk, explained why the Ukrainian called out former American world champion Deontay Wilder.
“Oleksandr had the idea of boxing Wilder in the USA as far back as 2020. Unfortunately, at that time the circumstances didn’t come together — not everything depended on us, and the level of organisational readiness simply wasn’t there to deliver the fight the way it deserved. Now the situation is different, both in terms of scale and possibilities,” Lapin said.
In July Oleksandr Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) won his rematch against Daniel Dubois by knockout in the 5th round and became undisputed world champion for the third time.
Deontay Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KOs) last fought in June against Tyrrell Herndon, winning by technical knockout in the 7th round.