Carl Frampton believes Oleksandr Usyk may finally be showing signs of age after his tougher-than-expected win over Rico Verhoeven.
Usyk retained his WBC, IBF and WBA heavyweight titles with an 11th-round stoppage last month, but Verhoeven gave him major problems despite having only one previous professional boxing fight. The Dutchman was even ahead on one scorecard before Usyk dropped him late and referee Mark Lyson stopped the fight in controversial fashion.
Frampton says that performance changed how he views Usyk against the next wave of heavyweights. “When you’ve had the career and have been involved in boxing for the amount of years that Usyk has, then [Father Time] catches up on you,” he told Boxing Now.
Based on the Verhoeven fight, Frampton now believes two heavyweights could beat Usyk. “Going off that performance [against] Verhoeven, I would favour Kabayel,” he said. “I would also favour Moses Itauma over him.”
Usyk has ruled out a fight with Itauma, but Agit Kabayel is a more immediate issue. The WBC has ordered Usyk to defend against its interim champion, making Kabayel the likely next test if the Ukrainian decides to keep the belt.
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