Oleksandr Usyk has become a target of Ed Pereira, CEO of fresh boxing events company iV Boxing, which is planning a series of events this year that are expected to make him one of the most recognizable athletes in the world.

On Friday, Pereira announced that iVB events will be streamed on YouTube, with some of them free to the public, such as the July 11 boxing event in San Francisco, which is expected to attract a record crowd of more than 136,000 viewers. No fights have been announced yet at iVB galas, in which top boxers will sign contracts with various promoters.

However, Usyk (24-0, 15 KO), the world’s No. 1 heavyweight and king of the pound-for-pound rankings in the latest ESPN rankings, is one of the fighters iVB is interested in appearing in either San Franscico on July 11 or Las Vegas in April on a date to be confirmed.

Usyk, 39, of Ukraine on Jan. 17, currently holds three versions (WBC, WBA and IBF) of the heavyweight world title, while Fabio Wardley (20-0-1, 19 KO), 31, of England, was elevated to WBO titleholder after the Ukrainian relinquished the belt in April.

Usyk has not fought since knocking out Dubois in five rounds last July and has recently been linked to signing a fresh promotional contract ahead of his fight with former champion Deontay Wilder (44-4-1, 43 KO), 40, of Alabama.

Oleksandr Usyk considered a plan to break the boxing attendance record

“Many years ago, boxing was the biggest sport in the world, boxers made more money than Babe Ruth at the time in America, and the heavyweight champion was king of the world,” Pereira told ESPN.

“We want to try to get this fight back where everyone knows who the heavyweight champion of the world is.

“Many, many years ago, you could stop your grandmother on the street, whether in Bolton, England, or Washington, D.C., and she would know who the heavyweight champion of the world is. Now you stop not your grandmother, but anyone else, and they will very rarely be able to tell you who the world heavyweight champion is, even though Usyk is a great generation. I think it’s a shame.”

iVB, which has worked to organize events like the one held last year in Novel York’s Times Square [which featured Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney in separate fights] will attempt to break the record for a gate at a boxing event (135,132 people for the Tony Zale-Billy Pryor fight at Juneau Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1941, in a non-title middleweight fight is a record) in San Franscico on July 11.

Much of San Francisco will be closed for the event at Civic Center Plaza with a ring in front of City Hall because Pereira says it will be a “watershed moment.”

To attract the record attendance and eye-popping crowd of 200,000 that iVB is aiming for, Pereira knows the event will need to feature one of the biggest fights of the year.

“We are ready to take the biggest fight and pay a fair amount for it,” Pereira told ESPN.

“Whoever fights on this card in San Francisco will be the world record holder.

“We are currently working with several promoters [for the fight on July 11] but we are not announcing the players right now. We are now working on putting this card together. We will ensure that admission is inexpensive or free, and our goal is to break the audience record, which is a really substantial challenge. Most fans will be free.”

iV Boxing vows to cooperate with every promoter

The London-based events company says it will work with promoters to secure substantial fights at the venues and dates it plans in the United States and the United Kingdom.

“We are not a promoter, we are a large-scale event organizer and we have organized many events in various sports, including boxing,” Pereira told ESPN.

“We want to bring boxing back to the public on a larger scale. We want to have substantial boxing events and cultural moments where people say, ‘I was there.’ Boxing has probably lost a lot of casual fans over the last few years due to the cost of pay-per-views and the cost of event admission tickets. We want to reverse this.

“My vision is to perform for the fans first and foremost. I am not a promoter and I will bow to the knowledge of others in terms of promotional skills, but I know how to organize boxing events and fill stadiums. We want it to be good and focus on the fans. I want to be an open door to any promoter who wants to bring fighters to me. We will not be tied to one promoter, we will be open to everyone and free agents.

“These will be mainly outdoor shows, in places that will bring back the magic of boxing.”

YouTube broadcast contract for iV Boxing

iVB also wants to make its events – 12 planned for this year – more accessible to watch on the Internet thanks to a distribution agreement with YouTube.

“We decided to partner with YouTube for distribution because we want to bring boxing back to people,” Pereira told ESPN.

“Some events will be free, some will be pay-per-view, but it won’t be a double wall of pay-per-view because there’s no subscription. YouTube is everywhere, so it’s very accessible, and if we can keep the pay-per-view at $10-$15, it’ll be very accessible.”

Pereira has previously collaborated with artists such as Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, which organizes boxing events under the Riyad Season banner, and SELA [a Saudi Arabia-based events and entertainment company] in producing events like the one in Times Square, as well as Usyk vs. Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois vs. Anthony Joshua [both in London].

“As I walked up to Times Square, I saw thousands of people fascinated by boxing because the price didn’t prohibit them, and we hope we can do that again on July 11 in San Francisco,” Pereira told ESPN.