Oleksandr Usyk's coach Sergey Lapin has revealed he is willing to return to cruiserweight to face Canelo Alvarez if a fight with Tyson Fury fails to come to fruition.
Last week, it was reported that the proposed bout between Usyk and his fellow ruler at the summit of the heavyweight division is in the works for the first quarter of 2023, with Saudi Arabia a possible location.
The report from ESPN has excited many boxing fans across the world, who have been looking forward to a bout between the pair for the last three months.
Lapin is confident the two sides will be able to reach an agreement over a potential fight between Fury and Usyk but refused to rule out the prospect of facing Canelo instead despite the harsh weight cut.
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"Usyk has already recovered from the fight with Anthony Joshua, he's keeping himself in shape and is currently engaged in charity work," he told Lord Ping. "He's also waiting for the chatterbox Tyson Fury to finally have the courage to enter the ring with him.
"In the meantime Fury fights Derek Chisora. This is not an interesting fight, who will like this fight? Tyson is looking for easy fights.
"Next year, the fight for the title of undisputed world champion against Tyson Fury is our priority. This is the main goal. But if this does not happen for whatever reason, then I hope that there will still be some very interesting fights ahead.
"Alex could, for example, return to the cruiserweight division but only if he has a fight with Saul Alvarez. That's the only fighter that Usyk would come back down to cruiserweight for."
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Fury, 34, recently announced a trilogy fight with Derek Chisora, but Del Boy isn't expected to be too much of a problem for the Gyspy King.
Should Fury get past Chisora, his final hurdle to undisputed status will come in the form of Usyk.
As it stands, all signs point towards that happening, perhaps some time in February or March.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum has stated his eagerness to book a bout between Fury and Usyk on several occasions in the last few weeks, and recently said: "Oleksandr Usyk I look at as a very good friend because he is the best friend of Vasiliy Lomachenko.
"They're very close, went to the same Olympic Games, and they share a manager in Egis Klimas who's a very good friend of ours and coincidentally we [Top Rank] will be promoting Vasiliy's next fight on October 29 from Madison Square Garden.
"Egis and Oleksandr Usyk will be there and I'll be having dinner with them without any question, probably the Thursday night before the fight and so I'll have a very long discussion with them about what their plans are and when it could be in their best interests to get the fight on.
"I know from previous conversations with both of them that they want that fight against Tyson Fury."
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