Eddie Hearn had promised U.S. boxing fans that he would sign a pound-for-pound superstar to his stable of fighters competing on DAZN USA and he has delivered.
Matchroom Boxing and Hearn announced a three-fight, co-promotional deal with undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk to have fight for the stable and on the DAZN USA streaming service.
Usyk is the most successful boxer to sign onto the DAZN platform as he is the first-ever undisputed cruiserweight champion to simultaneously hold the WBA, WBO, WBC, IBF and Ring Magazine titles. Usyk also became the first World Boxing Super Series champion after defeating then-unified champion Murat Gassiev by a wide unanimous decision earlier this summer in Russia.
No fight for Usyk has been announced, but a fight is being explored with former WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew for later this year, a fight that, if made, would like land on DAZN in the United States. That fight has now recently been put in jeopardy due to the WBA ordering Usyk to fight “champion in recess” Denis Lebedev.
The undisputed champion has previously stated that he wants to eventually move up in weight and challenge for Anthony Joshua’s unified heavyweight titles. As the WBO cruiserweight champion, Usyk can make himself the mandatory challenger to the WBO heavyweight title, but due to the WBO’s rules and recent announcement that Joshua’s title defense against Alexander Povetkin is now a WBO mandatory challenge, the earliest Usyk can be the WBO heavyweight mandatory challenger would be early 2020, 18 months after the September 22 fight against Povetkin.
Usyk joins the likes of Jarrell Miller, Demetrius Andrade, WBA super bantamweight champion Danny Roman, former welterweight champion Jessie Vargas and more boxers signed to Matchroom Boxing and have fights scheduled to take place on DAZN in the United States.
