Krassyuk: It’s time for Usyk to shine

Alexander Krassyuk, general manager of K2 Promotions Ukraine, spoke about the future plans of WBO cruiserweight champion Alexander Usyk, detailed his participation in the World Boxing Super Series tournament, and spoke about when and against whom to expect the next fight of Alexander.

"Today, we fly to Monaco, where the official procedures of the World Super Series - draw, appointment, -will take place on the weekend. There we will get the date of the first fight of Alexander. The procedure of the draw will take place on Saturday, July 8,”- said Krassyuk.

"Our task is to get an opponent, date and place. I, Alexander Usyk, his manager Egis Klimas and his coach Sergey Vatamanyuk will be present at the official drawing procedure. Yesterday, Alexander flew from Bukovel, where he conducted the stage of general physical training, to Kiev, to catch a plane today."

"Thus, the fight of Alexander, which was planned for the end of August in Ukraine, will be canceled. Most likely, Alexander's fight will take place in September, and depending on who will be the opponent, the place will be determined. Perhaps it will be Ukraine."

"The most likely enemies of Alexander, as a seeded boxer, at the moment are Marco Hook and Krzysztof Glowacki. Although the candidacy of the Polish boxer has not yet been finally approved, so it is possible that his plece Cuban Mike Perez will take. There are also two unseeded boxers - Dmitry Kudryashov and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk, but the Russian is a mandatory challenger to Marius Briedis, and the Pole to Murat Gassiev. At the weekend, this should all be decided."

Who will be in the training camp of Alexander in preparation for the fights within Super Series?

At the moment, Alexander is preparing his ‘physics’ with Sergey Vatamanyuk, his coach Russ Anber is not with him yet reached. It is unlikely that new names will appear in the camp of Usyk.

People who have this or that attitude to the team of Alexander, say that now he trains with Anatoly Lomachenko. But Anatoly denies this...

The fact is that Anatoly Lomachenko did not train Usyk in the professionals. Maybe we can call him a mentor. He was always his mentor. But not a coach. He does not train him specifically. Vasily Lomachenko fights on August 5 in the US, and will train there.

Can Alexander be considered the favorite of this tournament?

8 people, 4 world champions. I'm an engaged person (laughs). Theoretically, of course, he is. If you raise the question, if there is a chance of winning? Of course he has. Are these chances high? High enough. But, according to the rules of the tournament, defeat can be earned not only in the ring. Trauma, for example, or some other circumstances may become decisive. If the boxer is injured during preparation, he leaves the tournament.

Earlier you said that there is a certain doubt that the tournament will be able to pass the way, the organizers say about it. What has changed since then?

We really had doubts, and we expressed these doubts to the organizers. And they provided us with sufficient arguments for us to agree to participate in this tournament. In fact, all 4 champions have already signed the contracts, and officially agreed to participate in the tournament. They agreed to the conditions proposed by the organizers.

As a rule, it is difficult for promoters to agree upon the meeting of 2 champions, here we have 4 of them. Do you expect any problems when the matter turns from the draw directly to the case?

We do not have to negotiate with anyone or anything. All have already agreed. Organizers announce the date and place. Terms of participation of each boxer have already been agreed. It remains only to prepare and to fight. And in our case, to win. The place of the battle is determined at the discretion of the organizers. Each participant has already agreed to hold a fight in the place that he will be offered.

Thank you very much for your answers and good luck with the draw!

Thank you!