In a recent interview with The Ring magazine, the unified heavyweight champion and his longtime manager Egis Klimas directly answered the most popular questions about young and promising contenders — Moses Itauma and Agit Kabayel.
"Itauma really has great potential, that's obvious. But as of today, he is not even an official contender. In March, he is set to fight Jermaine Franklin. And organizing a fight with the champion depends on a huge number of factors," Usyk stated.
Egis Klimas was even more categorical:
"Moses has not yet been truly tested in the ring. Yes, he is a very promising guy, but he currently has no real positions for a fight with Oleksandr."
They also separately addressed the situation with the WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel:
"To earn a fight with Usyk, Kabayel needs to achieve something truly outstanding. That hasn't happened yet," Klimas summarized.
Interestingly, not long ago, there was active discussion about a possible Usyk fight with Deontay Wilder. However, the "Bronze Bomber" ultimately chose another path and will face Derek Chisora in April.