Oleksandr Usyk intends to return to cruiserweight in order to seek a fight against David Benavidez, Usyk's advisor told Ring Magazine's Mike Coppinger.
Benavidez, who won the WBA and WBO cruiserweight titles after knocking out Gilberto Ramirez in May, will face WBC champ Michal Cieslak in a three-belt unification bout on Dec. 5.
Usyk, 39, vacated the WBC, WBA, and IBF heavyweight belts in June, a month after retaining the first two with a controversial 11th-round stoppage against Dutch former kickboxer Rico Verhoeven in Egypt. The Ukrainian boxer said then that his decision to give up the belts was not related to retirement "because I still have my last dance."
Usyk made his professional debut at cruiserweight in 2013. He fought in the division until moving up to heavyweight in 2019 and remains the only undisputed cruiserweight champion in the four-belt era.
