By Martyn Herman
LONDON (Reuters) – New heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk said his stunning victory over Anthony Joshua in London on Saturday gave him less satisfaction than winning Olympic gold in the same city in 2012.
Former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk gave a boxing masterclass in front of 67,000 fans at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, earning a unanimous points decision.
“London is a really lucky city for me but not a single professional victory can be above an Olympic gold,” the Ukrainian, who won heavyweight gold at the London Olympics, said after taking Joshua’s WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts.
Usyk’s next fight is likely to be a mandatory re-match against Joshua, and after his last 10 fights have been outside the Ukraine the so-called “road warrior” would love nothing more than to fight in front of home fans in Kiev.
“I would love to have the rematch at Olympiyskiy Stadium in Kiev,” he said, although Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn appeared to pour cold water on that scenario, saying it would more likely be in London or international to “maximise income”.
Usyk is now unbeaten in 19 fights and has followed in the footsteps of Ukrainian brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko who dominated the heavyweight division for a decade.
“Excellent fight. Very clever. Oleksandr did a perfect job,” Vitali said.
(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Toby Chopra)
