Rafael Espinoza’s team is rapidly moving towards a unification fight against IBF featherweight champion Angelo Leo after the defeat of Leo’s scheduled title defense against Ra’eese Aleem.

Boxing reporter Fernando Sabatini said Saturday that Espinoza’s team plans to formally continue the fight with Leo and noted that negotiations between the camps were close to being finalized.

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Last update: 2026/05/10 at 18:50

“Hi brother, I’m ready every time. I’m ready for Las Vegas, Modern York, Saudi Arabia, everything.

“Come on! The greedy belly is my friend,” Usyk laughed in the video posted by Turki Alalshikh.

😂🤷🏻‍♂️🔥🥊❤️💪🏻 pic.twitter.com/I52OWjju1a

— TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) May 10, 2026

Speculation about Fury immediately arose in the comments as Usyk made no direct mention of his upcoming fight with Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in Egypt.

This fight is widely viewed as a major mismatch considering Usyk’s boxing achievements compared to Verhoeven’s constrained professional boxing experience, despite his kickboxing success.

Usyk and Fury have already fought twice, with Usyk winning both fights. Still, another meeting between the two would likely bring in a lot of money due to the commercial success and interest surrounding their rivalry.

Fury is also expected to face Anthony Joshua later this year after both heavyweights fought preparatory fights over the summer months.

The way Usyk mentioned Fury in the clip seemed to be an implicit signal that he still wanted a third fight, even though he already had two wins over him. Usyk had previously named Fury, Verhoeven and the winner of the Wardley-Dubois fight as the last three opponents he wanted before retiring.

Since Usyk has already defeated Daniel Dubois twice, including on a stoppage in 2023, it is unclear whether he is actually interested in facing him again. Some fans believe Usyk may have expected Fabio Wardley to beat Dubois before finalizing his retirement plan.

A third fight with Fury would likely generate much more interest and revenue around the world than another meeting with Dubois at this stage.

Tyson Fury has taken an compelling stance following the epic heavyweight fight between Daniel Dubois and Fabio Wardley.

Dubois recovered from two early knockdowns and stopped Wardley in the 11th round and win the WBO heavyweight title, becoming a two-time world champion in the process.

“DDD” was previously the IBF champion, where he scored a fifth-round knockout victory over Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium in September 2024.

Posting on social mediaFury has now compared the two fights, believing that Dubois’ performance against Wardley, as well as some of his other recent performances, raises question marks over Joshua’s chin after being dropped several times by “DDD”.

“Well, I was sitting here thinking after Dubois’ unbelievable fight last night. Dubois fought Massive Baby Miller, stopped him, but never knocked him down.

“Then he fought Hrgovic, stopped him, but never knocked him down. Last night he fought Wardley in an unbelievable fight, stopped him and never knocked him down. He hit Usyk with some substantial bombs, never knocked him down. And yet he fights Anthony Joshua and takes him to the floor five times.

“I’m not saying Anthony Joshua is chinless, but those are the facts. Take it however you want and however you want. No one else has ever given up, not one person, Massive Baby Miller, Hrgovic, Usyk or Wardley, but Joshua falls five times. Chinny!”

Fury is expected to face Joshua in a highly anticipated clash later this year, provided “AJ” defeats Kristian Prenga for the first time in July, and “The Gypsy King” also appears to have a fight in the interim.