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Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley will battle to decide who is next in line for a shot at Oleksandr Usyk’s undisputed heavyweight titles on Saturday.
Usyk’s advisor, Sergey Lapin, has revealed that the Ukrainian is expected back in the ring in the first half of 2026 to defend his undisputed heavyweight titles.
This comes shortly after Usyk claimed he plans to fight until he is 41, and he is reportedly targeting a fight against Joseph Parker or Fabio Wardley next.
“[After the Daniel Dubois fight] He was non-committal about even fighting one more fight,” Mike Coppinger said on Monday’s Inside The Ring show. “But I spoke to Usyk’s advisor Sergey Lapin, and he said he expects maybe five more fights from Usyk and that he is looking at the first half of 2026 against the winner of this Saturday’s fight between Joseph Parker and Fabio Wardley.”
Usyk was initially ordered to negotiate for an undisputed title defence against Joseph Parker in July, but received a 90-day extension due to a back injury sustained during his fight with Daniel Dubois.
Parker has chosen to stay active and will defend his WBO interim title and mandatory challenger status against WBA interim champion, Fabio Wardley at the O2 Arena on Saturday.
