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If it wasn't clear enough, Oleksandr Usyk is desperate to fight Tyson Fury.
The pair have tried to make a heavyweight title unification fight come to fruition twice in 2023 with negotiations collapsing on both occasions.
Fury, instead, is now slated to fight former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Oct. 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It's a fight that hasn't gone down well with boxing fans and while Usyk is frustrated, he is still eager to make a fight with the Briton happen in 2024.
Such is his desire to fight him that he'd have no problem with Fury's WBC belt not being on the line either.
“I don’t even care about the belt anymore,” Usyk was quoted as saying by Boxing Scene. “I need him, I need him, the WBC title is just a little extra motivation but the people and the fans just need to see us fight.
“We need to fight, we need to fight. People talk about this fight for 20, 30, 40 years so we need to have the fight.”
For now, Usyk will defend his heavyweight titles against WBA mandatory Daniel Dubois in Poland next month on Aug. 26.
Despite the Ukrainian being an overwhelming betting favorite, Dubois' promoter Frank Warren — who notably promotes Fury as well — is confident that his fighter will pull off the upset.
But for Usyk, that's simply promoter talk.
“Dubois is young and good, he’s a prospect but Frank Warren is a promoter so he has to talk a lot,” Usyk said.
Usyk also neglected to compare Dubois and Anthony Joshua when asked if the former was a tougher test.
“Joshua is Olympic champion and two-time world champion,” Usyk added. “But I just need to prepare for the Dubois fight, I don’t need to compare opponents.”