Notebook: Usyk training again, plans to fight in 2026 but not vs. Itauma
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Oleksandr Usyk, who has been sidelined by a back injury since his one-sided fifth-round destruction of Daniel Dubois to regain the IBF title and become the undisputed heavyweight champion for the second time on July 19, has returned to training with plans to fight next year.
“I arrived (Wednesday) morning,” Usyk told his website, Ready to Fight, on Thursday.
Despite speculation from some that the 38-year-old would retire, Usyk said he would fight again.
“Next year. And, God willing, I’ll win,” Usyk said.
Following the victory over Dubois in a rematch of Usyk’s one-sided ninth-round knockout to retain the unified title in 2023, Usyk was ordered to make his due mandatory defense of the WBO title against interim titlist Joseph Parker.
However, Usyk requested and was granted a medical exception to delay the mandatory defense because of what his team described in the request as “back issues and the toll of grueling fights at the highest level, which have impacted” him.