The promoter of Oleksandr Usyk has said the Ukrainian's heavyweight title rematch with Anthony Joshua is set to take place in February or March next year.
Usyk humbled Joshua in their bout on Saturday, outclassing the British boxer and sealing victory via a unanimous decision - 117-112, 116- 112 and 115-113 - to claim the WBA, WBO, and IBF belts.
After the fight in London, Joshua said that he is “110 per cent” likely to activate a rematch clause contained in the contract for the bout that took place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
“The approximate time that Eddie Hearn announced … after the fight, February-March, is indeed true,” Usyk's promoter Oleksandr Krasyuk said at a joint press conference with the boxer in Kiev on Tuesday. “Within this period, a rematch should take place.”
His remarks came after Usyk, who secured most of his victories outside of Ukraine, said that he “would love to have the rematch at Olympiyskiy Stadium in Kiev".
New champion Usyk also has his eyes on a title unification fight, once the Joshua rematch is out of the way. WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury of Britain faces American Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas next month in the third of three fights between the two.
“We can talk about the unification of all the belts only after Tyson Fury will have a boxing match again Deontay Wilder, and they determine the champion, and after our re-match with Anthony [Joshua]," Usyk said. “Of course, I would like very much to have this unification match.”
A former undisputed cruiserweight world champion and Olympic gold medallist, the 34-year-old Usyk was contesting only his third professional heavyweight fight. He follows in the footsteps of compatriots Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko who dominated the division from 2004-15.
Usyk's victory extended his unbeaten professional record to 19 wins and scuppered the prospects of an all-British world unification bout between Joshua and Fury.
It also meant that the Ukrainian became just the third cruiserweight world champion after Evander Holyfield of the United States and Britain's David Haye to also take a heavyweight title.
