Cuban top cruiserweight Yunier Dorticos is now the fourth man entered into Richard Schaefer’s and Kalle Sauerland’s cruiserweight half of their two $50 million tournaments. Already this is a great field and reportedly it may get even better. Near consensus number one cruiserweight Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine is reportedly likely to join as well according to his promoter Tom Loeffler.
Yunier Dorticos (21-0, 20 KOs) last fought in May of 2016, stopping talented Youri Kalenga late in a very good fight. He was recently supposed to fight Beibut Shumenov, but the fight fell through. Due to WBA politics that aren’t worth explaining, he was set to get a shot for the real WBA belt against Dennis Lebedev in the next few months. He is choosing this instead, however. Dorticos might as well as the WBC and IBF belts are already in this.
The WBO belt may be joining as well if Tom Loeffler is true to his word and Oleksandr Usyk (12-0, 10 KOs) joins the fray. Usyk, the 2012 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist, most recently fought in April in a decision win over Michael Hunter. The Ukrainian technician is widely considered the number one cruiserweight in the sport and really would be the cherry on top in this already loaded tournament.
Already confirmed on top of Dorticos are IBF titlist Murat Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs), WBC titlist Mairis Briedis (22-0, 18 KOs), and former long reigning titlist Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (53-3-1, 37 KOs). WBA super middleweight titlist George Groves (26-3, 19 KOs) remains the only confirmed entrant thus far in the super middleweight bracket. The recently unretired Mikkel Kessler (46-3, 36 KOs) has reportedly declined his invitation.
