Alexander Krassyuk, the promoter of K2 Promotions Ukraine, claims that he received from Paco Valcarsel, the head of the WBO a guarantee that Oleksander Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs) will soon receive the status of a mandatory challenger for the heavyweight title.
Usyk still owns WBC, IBF and WBO cruiserweight championship belts and on May 25 Oleksander will hold his first fight in the heavyweight division in the fight against Carlos Takam (36-5-1, 28 KOs).
World Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua (22-0, 21 KOs) is currently under the promotion of Eddie Hearn, as well as Usyk. For this reason, the Ukrainian is unlikely to need the status of a mandatory challenger if he seriously wants to challenge the WBO belt. However, Usyk's position may be helpful to Hearn in order to “block” the occupation of this place of official challenger by Tyson Fury (27-0-1, 19 KOs), who will likely defeat Tom Schwartz on June 15, who is on the second place in the WBO ratings.
