Usyk plans October 12th return, “likely” against Takam

The card will take place at Wintrust Arena in Chicago

Former unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk will once again attempt to make his heavyweight debut when he headlines an October 12th DAZN card in Chicago. According to ESPN, he’ll “likely” face original foe Carlos Takam, whom he was booked to fight on May 25th before injuring his bicep less than three weeks before showtime.

It’s still as interesting a fight as last time, a solid litmus test for Usyk (16-0, 12 KO) against the ultra-tricky Takam (36-5-1, 28 KO). What has changed, though, it what comes after; Usyk is now the WBO mandatory challenger, which theoretically means he’s next for whoever wins the rematch between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua. Provided he gets past Takam, I’d be more than happy to see him face either of those two.

Between this, the big September 13th show, and Gennadiy Golovkin’s vacant title fight against Sergiy Derevyanchenko, DAZN is fixing to have a pretty damn loaded fall. I’m excited, at least.