According to Dan Rafael of espn.com, a cruierweight title bout between undisputed champion Oleksandr Usyk and Tony Bellew is close to being finalized.
“Alexander (Krassyuk) and Eddie (Hearn) have been negotiating and I spoke to Alexander and they’re getting very close and most likely it’s going to be completely done (later this week or next week),” Usyk Manager Egis Klimas said. “They’re looking in November.”
“Usyk is a road warrior,” Klimas said. “‘Road Warrior’ Usyk.”
“Bellew made a very good comment,” Klimas said. “He said, ‘Why do I need Usyk in the heavyweight division? He has no name in the heavyweight division. I’d rather come down to the cruiserweight division because there are four titles involved.'”
“(The tournament organizers) hope we will be releasing the titles. We’re not planning to do that,” Klimas said. “We’re going to fight Bellew.”
“(If) Andre Ward wants to come back as a cruiserweight, Andre Ward and Usyk would be a perfect fight. A perfect fight,” Klimas said. “But right now we’re trying to make Usyk and Bellew.”
