Usyk withdraws from bout with injury

In a report first mentioned from Boxingscene, the heavyweight debut of Oleksandr Usyk is going to be delayed a bit as he has suffered a torn biceps injury.

The reigning king of cruiserweights and 2018 Fighter of the Year had been for a scheduled clash against veteran Carlos Takam. The two were supposed to clash on May 25 at MGM National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md.

“Unfortunately, Usyk has suffered a bicep(s) injury and will no longer fight on May 25,” Egis Klimas, Usyk’s manager, affirmed on Tuesday to Boxingscene. “A new date for his heavyweight debut will be announced shortly.”

Usyk (16-0 12 KOs) was a force in the cruiserweight division over the last 18 months, culminating with a commanding win over Murat Gassiev last July to become the undisputed world champion and the winner of the inaugural World Boxing Super Series tournament on Gassiev’s Moscow turf.

Usyk left the division in November in Manchester where he KO’d Tony Bellew in the eighth round of their clash – a seventh straight World title defense for the 2012 Olympic gold medalist.

With Usyk out, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn told ESPN as well in an interview with iFL Tv that he hopes to still go forward with the card but will try to relocate the site to Las Vegas, the hometown of recent signee Devin Haney (21-0, 13 KOs). Haney was slated to fight Antonio Moran (24-3, 17 KOs) on the Usyk-Takam undercard.

“We’re still working on what will happen with the show but we still want Devin Haney and the rest of the fighters on the card to fight,” Hearn said to ESPN.

“It’s been two months of hard work and preparation for this fight every day,” Klimas said to ESPN. “We had two more weeks to the fight, but he suffered the injury. Of course, everybody is very disappointed, especially Usyk.

“He will probably be out for one month. The doctor told him he can’t do anything with the arm for one month. Then maybe another month or two of recovery and hopefully he can come back to fight sometime in September.”