Sport Arena – provides you with a forecast of the top six events in Ukrainian boxing that can become key in 2022
Oleksandr Usyk becomes undisputed heavyweight champion
Recent events in the heavyweight division have shown that nothing is certain until a contract is signed. Last year, Diontay Wilder’s lawyers confused the cards for the champions, and this year it was too difficult to pay off the contenders.
It seemed that everything was going to an early duel for the status of the absolute heavyweight champion, but the paths of Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk still diverged a little, at least for a while. The champions will first honor their commitments to Anthony Joshua and Dillian Whyte and, if all goes well, face off in a head-to-head fight in the second half of the year.
Tyson Fury is still a mystery for any opponent, and for sure, he is the most inconvenient for Alexander of all the current heavyweights. Nevertheless, we would not advise writing off such a talented and skilled boxer ahead of time.
Vasily Lomachenko will again become world champion
For now, Vassily remains in the game and is considered one of the main options for unified champion George Kambosos. The best option for Hi-Tech would be a trip to Sydney and the return of all championship belts in one fell swoop. True, without a victory over Devin Haney, who owns the full-fledged WBC champion title, the absolute championship will be with reservations, and it’s hard to believe in a fight with an American in the foreseeable future.
If George chooses Devin and concedes all the belts to him, then Vasily will intend to get the “Dream” through the status of a mandatory challenger. If an agreement fails, then the Ukrainian lightweight will have to be content with a fight for the vacant title, and after the return of one of the belts, put media pressure on the Yankees in an attempt to organize unification.
Denis Berinchyk is still in Brovary
Despite the fact that Denys Berinchyk has already come close to the top of the WBO rankings, he has not yet received the status of a mandatory challenger. This loophole to the title fight is already being used by Bob Arum for High Tech.
The worst scenario for Denis is the fight between Kambosos and Devin Haney. In this case, he will have to wait a long time for his turn for the championship fight, because then Loma will be the mandatory contender.
Accordingly, the most desirable alignment is a successful trip to Sydney for a compatriot who, after fulfilling his dream, does not want to mess around in mandatory defenses and leave the WBO belt vacant. But even in this case, Brovary will claim the championship fight, because there are absolutely no big names in the top of the rating now, behind which there would be solid finances.
Artem Dalakyan will finish the year as a champion
As much as we’d like WBA flyweight champion Artyom Dalakyan to move towards unification, the chances of that happening are very slim.
Given that in the last fight, Dalakyan fulfilled his obligations to Panamanian officials when he beat the mandatory challenger Luis Concepción, now he has the opportunity to choose a challenger from the top 15 rating and there is a suspicion that, as many times before, a little-known Thai or Latino.
Viktor Postol will end his career
In the last five fights, The Iceman has lost only to established division leaders Josh Taylor and Jose Carlos Ramirez, and both fights were incredibly competitive, so Viktor Postol still has the resource to box a little.
But let’s not forget that he recently turned 38 years old, and in one of the interviews, the ex-champion admitted that “he’s already had enough of boxing, but this is his job.” This cannot but be alarming on the eve of the fight with one hundred percent knockout Gary Antoine Russell, to which the age fighter approaches with a one and a half year downtime.
Be that as it may, Victor is obviously in the final phase of his career and I want to believe that he is able to slam the door loudly, leaving the sport on a positive note. February 26 will be a defining day as to how this finish line could turn out.
Taras Shelestyuk – hit or miss
Taras Shelestyuk was the first from the golden team of Ukraine in boxing to move to professional boxing, but somehow he didn’t work out there. No, he still remains an unbeaten fighter with a beautiful record, but unsuccessful cooperation with promoters did not allow him to realize his career to the fullest.
Last spring, he finally became a free agent, and at the end of 2021, he announced a partnership with Richard Schafer’s new promotion company Probellum. Just a couple of days after the announcement, he interrupted a year and a half with a simple victory in the vastness of Mexico and expressed the hope that now everything would be different.
To date, Shelestyuk is ranked 10th in the WBA welterweight rankings and has an untouched record of 19-0, 11 KOs. Of course, influential promoter Richard Schafer is not a magician to catch up on the past years overnight, but there is a suspicion that Taras will have a great fight that could change the situation. Classic hit or miss.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
